My Guardian
by WanderingAngel97
Summary: Max is a guardian angel. After her last protection detail went horribly wrong, she is reassigned to an "easier" charge. Nick "Fang" Walker, who turns out to be her toughest job yet. On top of that she is being stalked by a demon and is suffering from the guilt of her latest failure, which has left Max confused and unsure of herself. FAX! Rated "T" for violence, language and kissing
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, new story! I really hope you like this one. It's going to be far more supernatural than The Runaway Case and Nightmare were. **

**BFF:**** We're talking angels and demons kind of story here.**

**Me:**** Let's just get a few things straight before we go. Zephyr is not Gazzy and Jeff is not Iggy. They are four separate people. Basically I'm using the Flock's public names as other characters, or at least some of them. Nick and Fang will be the same character. **

**BFF:**** Okay, since Wander can't think of anything funny to say right now, let's get to the story.**

**Me:**** That's not true! I can think of a ton of funny things!**

**BFF:**** Well then tell us a few.**

**Me:**** Pickles and French Fries.**

**BFF:**** Why are those funny?**

**Me:**** Well, technically pickles are cucumbers that sit in this pickle flavoring stuff for a long time so the cucumber takes on the pickle flavor, and French Fries aren't even French.**

**BFF:**** Okay, I don't see how that's funny, but thanks for the factoid. **

**Me:**** Anytime. *smiles***

Max's POV

It was late at night and Zephyr, my ward, was sleeping soundly in his bed. The boy was so peaceful in his sleep that it was hard to imagine he was the same rambunctious boy I protected during the day. He was a tough job for any guardian angel, but I was up for it.

Zeph, that's my nickname for him, smiled in his sleep. I closed my eyes to see his dream, it was a gift all guardians had, the ability to see their ward's dreams.

The boy was running around in his backyard with a little black Yorkie. The scene was so adorable that I just wanted to pick Zeph up and spin him around like any big sister would when her younger brother was just too cute for his own good.

But I couldn't. Even if I tried my hands would just pass right through him. Zeph can't even see me. It's like I'm a ghost. Oh, the joys of being a guardian angel.

I sat down in a comfy little chair and dozed off a bit. Yes, even angels sleep. It's just that we don't need sleep very often, more like once every week or so.

I rocked back and forth in the chair, gazing at the young boy. Zeph was almost eight. He had bright blonde hair and striking blue eyes. I could tell that when he got older he was going to be quite the heart breaker. I really do hope that he doesn't turn into some kind of player. That would be a real shame.

Zeph breathed in deeply and rolled over in his bed. His hair tossed about and I could tell he was going to have a major case of bed-head in the morning. I smiled and decided that I needed to stretch, so I got out of the chair and shook out my arms and legs which soon regained feeling. After that I stretched out my wings that had been neatly tucked away behind my back. They were stiff since I hadn't used them in a few days. That happens when you're protecting somebody who's earth-bound.

My wings were white and tan. They glowed a bit in the dark, kind of like a nightlight. That glow is what we angels call The Light. It comes from heaven and allows us to survive on Earth. Without it we would quickly die in the Earth's atmosphere. It's too polluted for angels to survive in. It's been that way since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

I walked around Zeph's bed, using the glow from my wings to see in the dark, and sat down beside him.

I smiled at his content face. His birthday was tomorrow and he was extremely excited. It was hard for his mother to get him to bed, but now that he was, he was like a rock and nothing would wake him.

All Zeph wanted for his birthday was a cake and a dog. He's been talking about wanting a dog for months now and his parents took notice. Little did Zeph know, but I'd seen his parents sneak in a little puppy the other day. He was going to be so happy tomorrow.

"Treat that puppy well, Z-man." I whispered into his ear and closed my eyes again to see him petting and feeding the Yorkie in his dream and I knew he'd heard me. I smiled.

This was one of the few ways angels were allowed to communicate with humans, through their dreams. We could speak to them, but they couldn't see us or touch us. It almost seemed unfair. It was already hard for our two species to communicate and that communication was regulated. All for good cause though, if an angel started talking to a human on a regular basis, other than in dreams, they'd probably be seen as crazy to other people when they tried to communicate back to us. Either that or they would actually go crazy.

That's why I only ever spoke to humans in dreams. I really did care about them. They could be cruel, selfish, and conniving, but they could also be caring, giving, and loving. As an angel, I would try my best to keep them as the ladder.

Then, just as I was about to enter Zeph's dream world, I heard a noise outside the window.

Curious, I went to the window and looked outside.

Darkness and trees, that's all I could see, so I turned back to the bed to sit back down and then there! That sound again! I went to the window once more and looked out. Everything looked the same, but then I caught a light in the tree line. _The Light_ from an angel's wings in fact, and it was flickering.

_Oh, no, that angel must be hurt!_ I thought, panicked.

I phased through the window like a ghost and flew toward the light as fast as I could. But then The Light disappeared. That could only mean one thing.

The angel was dead.

"No!" I cried into the night. Then flew toward the last place I'd seen the angel, crying. There's no place for angels to go when we die. We're not like humans who have souls. When angels die we just cease to exist. Disappear into oblivion.

But when I got to the spot where I saw The Light fade, I found nothing. I searched around frantically. There was still a chance I could revive the angel by sharing some of my Light with him or her. I had about three minutes from when it disappeared from the other angel to do so, after that it would be too late. But I couldn't find the angel anywhere.

Then I heard this maniacal laughter come from the woods and I backed away toward the house.

_A demon._

I shuttered at the thought. Demons were by far the most deadly and remorseless creatures that walked the face of the Earth. I had fought them in the past, and let me get something straight first. Angels do not fear anything. But I fear demons.

My fear was looked down on by the other angels, but I had due cause. Sam and Jeff, my fellow guardian angels, had been captured by demons alongside me in a battle about a hundred years ago during what the humans called The Great War **(This is what WW1 was known as before WW2)**. They tortured us and tempted us. None of us ever gave in, and eventually they became angered by this and killed Sam.

Sam was my best friend.

We were freed soon after, but the fear had already instilled itself. I wasn't allowed into battle after that. It was a concern that my fear would give the enemy an advantage. An army is only as good as its weakest soldier.

Jeff and I got close after that, nothing romantic, angels were forbidden from relationships. He tried to kiss me once but I refused his advances. He knew it wasn't allowed, same as me. He didn't try to kiss me again after that.

The laughter sounded again, it was deep, throaty, and dark. I shirked away and gulped nervously. Then I jumped up and flew toward the house, toward Zeph's window. Something grabbed me by the ankle. The touch seared my flesh, it was the demon. He threw me back down to the ground.

I crashed to the ground and I felt the pain, but my body was left unscathed, other than where the demon had touched me, which was burned and throbbed.

I curled up into a ball. I tried to get rid of the pain somehow that way I could get back to Zeph and protect him. Just because I was scared of demons didn't mean I couldn't fight one.

There was something burning. I could smell it. I looked up and saw the house on fire. My eyes went big and I rushed toward the house only to be tackled by the demon and pinned to the ground.

I screamed as his flesh touched mine. It didn't seem particularly pleasant for him either, but he was smiling through it.

"I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to hear that scream, Max." The demon purred in my ear.

I shut my mouth and refused to give him any more satisfaction.

"But do you know what I really wanted to see?" It asked me and gave a dramatic pause. Demons were such drama queens. "I want to see you broken."

The house suddenly burst into flames and I could hear screaming inside. The screams of a little puppy. The screams of a man and a woman. The screams of a soon-to-be eight year old. Zephyr.

"Zeph!" I screamed, begging fate to let him live. _Get out of the Zeph! Get out!_

I fought against the demon, trying to release myself so I could go to Zeph. So I could save him. But I couldn't break free. The demon's hold was too tight.

The little boy cried for help and screamed long after his parents and the puppy had. The others were dead. He was the only one left.

"Zeph! Jump out the window!" I yelled, struggling.

But he didn't hear me and quickly his screams escalated and I could feel the bond between us begin to fray like a string. Zeph was dying.

"Zeph!" I cried out one last time. The connection broke as his screams ceased.

Zeph was dead.

"No!" I screamed, my tears flowed down my face. The demon released me and I sank into the ground as far as I could, curling up into myself.

"Looks like my work is done." The demon smirked, disappearing into the night.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So what did you guys think? Please review and tell me! Oh yeah, and if you are wondering who BFF is, check out the A/N's from The Runaway Case. **

**BFF:**** *sniffle sniffle* that was so sad! How could you kill a kid and a puppy?**

**Me:**** Hey I didn't do it the demon did. It may be a bit confusing at first why the demon is out to get Max, trust me, Max doesn't even know why, but as the story unfolds, you'll get the full picture. And the story will get happier once Fang shows up and I'm sure you'll love the troublemaker.**

**BFF:**** See you next chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey people! Sorry it took me so long to update, but this is a really long chapter, almost 3,000 words, so I hope that you'll forgive me and won't strangle me in my sleep.**

**BFF:**** Thank you guys for all the reviews! They were really awesome!**

**Me:**** No, they weren't just awesome, they were really **_**freaking awesomesauce**_**!**

**IMPORTANT INFO – Ariel is Angel in this story, she's going by her public name or whatever they called their fake names in the MR series. I just thought it'd be weird to have an angel named Angel.**

Max's POV

It's been about two months since Zeph died in that fire. It still haunts me. Sometimes I'll fall asleep and I'll see him burning but I can't do anything to save him, just like the first time. Other times I'll dream that I'm walking down a dark alleyway. I'm scared and I'm alone. Then I hear that maniacal laugh and the demon has me cornered. After that someone appears and the demon slits his throat. I don't know who the person who suddenly appeared is, I can't see his face, but I know he's someone important to me because I cry and scream out his name.

Then I die.

I don't remember the person's name when I wake up, but I'm left with a mild impression as to what it was. I'll just sit there for hours trying to figure out what it was, but I never do.

I sigh and get out of bed. I wasn't asleep, I try not to sleep. I was just resting.

Every angel has their own living quarters. A bed, book self, dresser, and side table. Nothing special. Our clothes are all white or blue. It's almost like having a uniform, but it's closer to a dress code. No revealing clothes, nothing flamboyant, and no high heels, angels are pretty tall to begin with so heels would be simply ridiculous anyway. It might seem a bit strict but I don't mind, who has the time to think about what they wear anyway. Oh yeah, right, humans. Lucky, Nudge would call them.

Nudge is one of my best friends. She helped me a lot after—Zeph. I gulped, forcing the tears down as I was reminded of that night once more.

"It was my fault he died." I said to the empty room with pain in my voice.

"No it wasn't." A small voice told me from the doorway. Ariel.

She came up to me and gave me a bear hug, holding me tight. Ariel is another one of my friends. I don't have many, just Jeff, Nudge, and Ariel. Ariel is a guardian in training. She's like a daughter to me. I'm not a mother or anything, but I feel motherly towards her. It's impossible for angels to conceive. We're thought up by God, like Athena was thought up by Zeus. Well, except we don't spring out of his head. We just—appear.

"You didn't kill him Max, the demon did." Ariel said. What she said was true. Angel Investigators, or A.I.'s as we guardians call them, it's a bit of a running joke, came the day after the fire and inspected the house and—bodies, and they found that the fire had been a special, dark kind of fire. Hell fire. Something only demons can wield.

But Ariel was wrong, it had been my fault. Zeph died because some demon wanted to punish me for something I did. He was out to get me, and Zeph and his family paid the price. What's worse is that I don't even know why the demon had it out for me. Maybe in the war I killed one of his buddies or something? No, that can't be it. Demons don't care about each other. This hate he had for me had to run deeper…

_What did I do?_ Nothing came to mind.

What did I do to drive somebody to kill innocents, innocents that I cared for?

Suddenly overcome by emotion, I tried to hold back a sob, but it burst out and soon Ariel's blue shirt was soaked. She patted me on the back and slowly I calmed down.

The door opened and I wiped away the last of my tears, but I couldn't mask the redness of my eyes.

"Max!" Nudge greeted and gave me a huge hug. Nudge had a knack for making just about anyone feel better. I guess that's why she's such a good guardian. Sadly her happy aura wasn't helping me at all today. "Guess what?"

I forced back my emotions and put on a fake smile, it wasn't that I didn't want to smile a real smile. It was more like I couldn't. How could I let myself have that small pleasure after what happened to Zeph?

"What is it?" I asked, but couldn't hide the false cheer. Nudge gave me a small smile and hugged me in an attempt to make me feel better, and as much as I want to say that it did help, it didn't, it only reminded me of the fact that Zeph would never be able to hug his loved ones again.

"We both got reassigned!" Nudge said happily with a smile on her face. "We're back in business baby!"

I froze for a second and then burst.

"WHAT?" I yelled, almost breaking the sound barrier.

"We got assigned new wards." Nudge replied, she looked like she wanted to say more, but she seemed to, however impossible it seemed, have put a lid on that non-stop talking mouth of hers.

I sat down, soaking in the new information. It was too fast, too soon.

"I'm not ready for this." I whispered. Ariel hugged me around the waist, trying to comfort me.

"Well apparently our superiors think otherwise, but don't worry Max. They said that your new ward will be easier than—" She stopped, shutting her trap again as her brain caught up with her mouth. But I caught onto what she was about to say. My new ward would be easier to look after than Zeph was. I didn't doubt it, but the words she said, or rather didn't say, made me sad.

I didn't want a new ward. I wanted my little ball of chaos back. I wanted Zeph back.

But I knew that would never happen. Zeph had passed on.

I got to my feet without even a hint of enthusiasm.

"Let's go pick up the paperwork." I struggled to say. **(Yes, even Heaven has paperwork lol) **My throat closed up from emotion, but I fought back and put on an emotionless mask. I needed to stop falling apart. I was a guardian, my job was to protect people, even if I failed once, that didn't mean I was unfit for guarding. I knew several guardians who had failed more than once. I had failed just one human. But that failure hurt worse than being burned in the fires of Hell, because I knew it had been truly my fault that Zeph had died.

I just hoped my next ward wouldn't meet the same fate.

"I already got the paperwork." Nudge said, shoving a manila folder over to me.

"Then let's head for The Gate." I replied and then turned to Ariel. She ran to me and wrapped her arms around me. She wouldn't be able to come with us, she was too young and she wasn't even out of guardian school yet.

"Goodbye Max." She sniffles and I held her to me.

"Goodbye sweetheart, be good while I'm gone." I told her. She replied with a smile that said 'I will' and let me go.

Nudge and I walked out the door. I looked down at the paperwork in my hands, flipped open the manila folder, and gazed down at the photograph on the page.

A teenage boy, probably between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, stared up at me with obsidian black eyes. I felt an eerie tingle shoot through me, not a cold chill, but a warm tingling. It was odd, I didn't recognize this feeling. It made me anxious, this feeling that I was having, but there was something in the boy's face that I found comforting. He made me feel okay about this new feeling. _It's nothing to be afraid of._ I shook my head confused, trying to clear my thoughts. Of course my thoughts at that very moment decided it was a great time to have a marathon inside my head.

My thoughts were jumbled and incoherent, but one thought in particular kept coming back to me.

_There's something special about this boy._

I couldn't pin down what that special thing was, however.

Soon Nudge and I were at The Gate. I know what you're thinking. A giant pair of golden gates, right? Wrong. The Gate looks like a mixture between what humans would call an "elevator" and "subway". Basically it's a normal subway car with all those bunches of seats, except it's pointed straight down like an elevator and the seats are adjusted to accommodate the different angle. Also there were no windows to peer out of, nor was there an entrance or exit. When you get to where you need to go, The Gate will pass the place and then suddenly you're not in it anymore, instead you're standing about ten feet from your destination.

We go to the ticket booth to give the angel in the booth our tickets, which were in our folders, and then he waves us on. The tickets hadn't cost anything, their only purpose was to help angels get on the right ferry down to Earth. There are no tolls for using The Gate, in fact there were no tolls at all, everything in Heaven is free, souls and angels give to each other freely. When one is in need of something, someone else will be happy to give it to them with no strings attached. Humans have tried to do this before, work in the way Heaven works, but it never works out on Earth because some devil is always able to convince a human to be greedy, and then the system falls apart.

The humans don't know they're attempting to imitate Heaven, they are not to know what Heaven even looks like until they become souls, but it's in their nature to try to act like God so they imitate God and his creations without their own acknowledgement.

Thinking of humans and souls reminds me of Zeph again. I haven't been able to see him yet, he's still in transition. Transition is the time it takes to get to Heaven, humans think of transition as Purgatory, but it isn't. Purgatory is almost like Earth, you can touch everything in it, smell everything, taste everything, but it's really just a simulation of what life is like on Earth. It's a second chance. A chance for the person to make different decisions, and the decisions he or she makes determines how long that person spends in Purgatory before going into transition.

Transition can take anywhere in between a second and several lifetimes in human time.

I just hope Zeph's transition is short. I need to tell him how sorry I am.

We board The Gate, well we don't really board it, we walk towards it and then suddenly we're inside it in our seats. The inside of The Gate is white and silver and there's a light airy feeling to the vessel.

I look down at the picture of the boy again and glance to the left of it at his name.

Nicholas "Fang" Walker.

What do you know? The angels had gone to the trouble of finding out the boy's nickname. Though I guess it's far from surprising. The angels in the department that issues out assignments are suckers for details.

_Fang._ What a strange nickname? But the more I looked through the files on the boy, the more the name seemed to fit. It rolled off my thoughts as easily as Nudge or Ariel's names, and for some reason the name felt like it was familiar.

The boy was a trouble maker. He bit a girl in first grade named Maya and left her with scars from his teeth, that's when kids started to call him Fang instead of Nick. He then became a notorious thief in his middle school years, but kicked the habit after a long discussion about it with his mother. Well, it was nice to know he respected his mother.

After that, in his high school years, particularly in his sophomore year, he got into numerous fights, which he usually won. For some reason that made me smile. Upon realizing this I frowned. Why was I smiling? I wasn't supposed to take delight in the sufferings of any human, and from the pictures I saw, Fang had left one or two of his opponents beaten to a bloody pulp. I wondered what they had done to make Fang beat them so badly. I felt ashamed of myself for having smiled, so I kept my mouth in a flat line after that.

The reason for his rampage of fights during his sophomore year was apparently due to his parent's nasty divorce which had separated Fang from his sister Ella. There weren't very many details other than that.

I couldn't find anything about his junior year.

Recently, according to the file, Fang had become a sort of party animal. He had gone to every high school party with beer since the beginning of the year, his senior year. He'd often get drunk and fall asleep on the lawn of whoever's house the party was at. He'd even been taken into custody once, but he was let go since the police had way bigger problems in their hands at the time than a drunken teenager passed out on a park bench.

I looked back at his picture and felt an incredible sadness grip my heart. He was drinking his life away, if something wasn't done soon he'd become a full-blown alcoholic. I don't know how I knew it, but somehow I knew that his partying and drinking, they weren't just to party and drink. There was something else, there was a reason he was doing these things. After reading all of the other information on him, drinking and partying seemed way out of character. Fang was the loner, the "emo" kid. He couldn't be out to socialize at these parties. He was smart, his test scores proved it, and it was only recently that his grades had plummeted.

I turned to the last page, the information had been gathered about two months ago, I skimmed over the page and I found the reason why.

It was a death certificate.

I read over and picked out whose it was and what had happened to her.

Her name was Maya Johnson. I instantly recognized her name from earlier in the file. She had been the girl Fang had bitten when he was younger.

She was killed in a car accident about two months ago at the start of the school.

Above the accident report and death certificate was a picture that had been paper clipped to the pages.

In the picture Fang and a girl with a pink streak in her blonde hair held one another close. Both were smiling brightly, their eyes glowed with happiness. I took the photo and held it closer to my eyes to see it better. As I gazed at Fang I felt that odd warm sensation course through me, I tried to shake away the feeling, but it stubbornly stayed. It perturbed me, it made me nervous and unsure of myself. Was this an effect of failing Zeph? Or was this because of—Fang?

I forcefully pushed my thoughts of the strange feeling aside and I turned the picture over. I could feel the odd feeling leaving me, replaced by a cold sickness that radiated from my stomach and made me want to puke.

On the back of the picture surrounded by a giant heart: Fang and Maya, junior year

I wasn't the only one experiencing loss.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So what did you think?**

**BFF:**** Fang seems like a very bad kid in this story…**

**Me:**** Fang isn't a bad person—**

**Fang:**** Thanks.**

**Me:**** No prob. In this story, Fang won't be perfect like I wrote him out to be like in The Runaway Case, in this he will be a much more developed character. He won't make the best decisions, and sometimes he'll be a bit of a jerk. But over the course of this story he's going to change and go through a lot of stuff.**

**BFF:**** Fang isn't the only one who will be going through some bad stuff. Max, as you know, is dealing with her guilt over Zephyr's death, but something worse than a bit of guilt is going to be knocking on the door soon, and Max is going to have to overcome her fears or else—**

**Me:**** *clamps hand over BFF's mouth* No telling! It's a surprise!**

**BFF:**** *sighs***

**Me:**** *removes hand from BFF's mouth***

**BFF:**** Max has to overcome—**

**Me:**** *hand over BFF's mouth* BFF, no telling. *reprimanding voice***

**BFF:**** Okay, fine. *huffs***

**Me:**** I'll try to update sooner for the next chapter if I can, most of my updates will probably be on the weekends from now on since I'm in school now.**

**BFF:**** Ugh, I want it to be summer! How many days till we get out?**

**Me:**** A couple months.**

**BFF:**** Nooooooo! *sobs* Freedom, I miss you!**

**Me:**** You still have weekends off.**

**BFF:**** It's not the same!**

**Me:**** True. **

**BFF:**** *sobs***

**Me:**** Keep reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride, but I do have an Instagram account so please follow my page at WanderingAngel97**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! *happy face* Guess what!**

**BFF:**** New chapter! *squeals***

**Me:**** That wasn't what I was going to say.**

**BFF:**** Well too bad. *pauses for a moment* What were you going to say?**

**Me:**** Now I don't want to tell you.**

**BFF:**** Tell me.**

**Me:**** No, I don't wanna.**

**BFF:**** Tell me!**

**Me:**** No.**

**BFF:**** Come on, please? *bambi eyes***

**Me:**** Okay, fine. I was going to say…*thinks for a moment*…*eyebrows furrow*… I can't remember what I was going to say now.**

**BFF:**** *crys out in frustration***

Max's POV

It didn't take long for Nudge and I to get to our destination. Armont, Arizona. **(I made up this city for the story, I don't know whether or not there is an actual Armont, Arizona, sorry)**

Both of our wards lived in the same city as well as the same neighborhood. Nudge had this teenager called Ignatius, but apparently he went by Iggy. I couldn't blame him, Ignatius was a mouthful and I couldn't even imagine trying to spell it. She showed me his picture. He looked about Fang's age, but instead of having black hair and eyes like Fang did, Iggy had strawberry blonde hair and pale blue eyes.

"He is _soooooo_ cute!" Nudge squealed as we headed toward Iggy and Fang's neighborhood. "If I were human I would want him as my brother for sure!"

"If you think he is cute, then why would you want him as your brother? Wouldn't you want the chance to date him or something?" I grinned to her, teasing my friend lifted my spirits a bit. It helped me forget about what happened to Zeph…

Nudge turned to me with a questioning look. "I don't think about him in that way Max, I'm an angel, we're not supposed to think like that. We don't think like that. We're not meant to fall in love like humans do. Our love is different, more familial. You know that."

I looked down, saddened by this fact. I wasn't one to normally question God, but I didn't understand why we angels couldn't love as humans love. It didn't make any sense to me, and believe me. I tried to make sense of it.

Of course there was no one to talk to this about, as far as I could tell, no other angels felt this way. Maybe there was something wrong with me? Maybe I didn't turn out right? Maybe that's why Zeph ended up dying? Because I was messed up.

"Are you okay Max?" Nudge gave me a concerned look.

I put on my best smile as I added another thing to my list of reasons why I was depressed and I lied, telling her that I was okay. I didn't say I was "fine" or "good" because she'd know I'd be lying right off the bat if I did that, especially after I had broken down earlier about the new assignment.

"So tell me about Iggy, you were pretty quiet on the way here with your nose stuck in that manila folder." I told her, steering the conversation away from love, _human_ love.

"I could say the same thing about you." She retorted with a smirk. I, being the ever mature one, stuck my tongue out at her. Nudge's happy aura seemed as if it was helping me a little bit now. It still didn't alleviate my heart, but it warmed it a bit.

"Iggy's a bit of a pyromaniac, he blows up stuff with bombs he makes. He has a little brother named Gazzy too. I have no heavenly idea where his parents came up with that name, but it is unique. Iggy goes to parties a lot, but he doesn't drink too much. I think I'm going to have more problems with his pyromania than anything else. Apparently he's burned down several buildings. The buildings were vacant and decaying, but still, I need to steer him away from that if I can." She blurted out quickly. "What about your ward?"

_My ward._ I wish I could just tell her about Zeph like I used to, tell her about the soccer games and antics. But Zeph is gone, however, for some reason, it doesn't bother me that I'm Fang's guardian now instead of Zeph's, I just wish he were still alive. I just miss my little ball of chaos.

"Fang has a troublesome past, and he gets into fights a lot. He goes to tons of parties too, but he gets drunk at them all the time, unlike Iggy." I say with sadness, I wish that none of it was true.

Nudge pats me on the shoulder, there's a smirk on her face. "Don't worry, with your sexy voice in his ear every night I'm sure he'll change his bad boy ways."

"Nudge!" I gasp, shocked by what she said, but then I notice she was laughing her butt off. She was messing with me. I sigh with relief, but for some reason that tingling feeling is back, and I still don't understand what it's supposed to mean.

We finally reach Fang and Iggy's neighborhood. Their houses are across the street from each other, so Nudge and I say our goodbyes and head toward our ward's homes.

I watch Nudge walk right through Iggy's front door, _literally_, and then she's in the window, waving me on towards Fang's house. I smile, she's so enthusiastic, and then I turn towards the house.

Suddenly a window opens from the second story room and startles me. I jump and hide behind a bush, I don't know why, it's not like Fang or any other humans can see me. Now I feel horribly stupid, so I quickly get out from behind the vegetation. I dust myself off and see movement in the window upstairs. The black curtains are cast aside and someone peers out of the window, taking a sweep of the neighborhood.

_Why on earth would somebody be looking out his window at this hour? It has to be nearly midnight!_

My eyes narrow at the figure. I'm pretty sure I know who it is.

Fang.

He climbs out the window and jumps into a tree. I clench my teeth as he does this. _The idiot! Doesn't he know he could break his neck?_

I catch a short glimpse of him in the streetlight and my suspicions are confirmed. He glances both ways before crossing the street, for which I am grateful. Then I start following him.

I'm not stealthy, there's no point in that. He can't see me anyway.

He looks over his shoulder to see if he's being followed. _How ironic?_ I think to myself, but I can tell that something caught his eye and that he picked up his pace. My eyes flicker behind me, but I see nothing. It must've been a dog or cat that he didn't get a good look at it, either that or he's afraid of dogs and cats.

I follow him for several blocks as he ducks through alleyways and takes some almost unnoticeable shortcuts. If it weren't for the fact that I was an angel I would have lost him by now. _I wonder who he thinks is following him._ After all he must think someone is following him if he's going to this much trouble.

I hear loud music and a few girly screams, the noise is muffled by my distance from the source, but not by much. I resist the urge to cover my ears as Fang and I grow closer to what I know must be some sort of high school party. I mean seriously? You call that music? **(Sorry party music lovers, Max is an angel, she isn't used to that kind of music)**

Then the place comes into view. It's a large white mansion with colorful lights, dancing bodies, and empty, crushed red Solo cups everywhere. I look upon the scene with disgust, particularly at the girls dressed in slutty clothes that are grinding up against the boys. Come on girls! Show some respect for yourselves! I can see that some of the boys are looking at the girls as if they were something to eat, which makes me want to vomit, while others are too sloshed to care. There are those few that I can tell are sober and uncomfortable as well. Poor designated drivers.

I want to get away from this place. It's loud, it smells of split beer and bile, and the air tastes of irresponsibility and over indulgence.

Then guess what?

Fang walks right towards it.

I roll my eyes and groan, knowing I can't stop him or even talk to him, least I freak him out.

_Do we _really _need to go in here?_

He continues on towards the party. I sigh and follow him into the house.

**A/N**

**Me:**** First glimpse of Fang!**

**BFF:**** Yay! *happy dance***

**Me:**** Thank you to everybody who reviewed! You guys are awesome!**

_**Pain-is-just-a-Message**_** I hope you like who Nudge's ward is! I'm sure she'll have plenty of trouble with Iggy. Muhahahaha!**

_**AFanOfFax**_** I'm glad you like the story and bad boy Fang too. If you ever need help, just contact me and I'll send the Flock straight away, and I saw that you wrote a story! So happy! *squeals with happiness***

_**Sapphira Volkov**_** BFF still hasn't calmed down about the end of the school year being so far away yet. Any suggestions on how to calm her down? I'm glad you got your computer back, and don't worry about being scatterbrained, that's when awesome ideas like to pop up ;) **

**BFF:**** I refuse to calm down! Summer needs to get back here RIGHT NOW!**

**Me:**** You can tell summer to come back here as much you want BFF, but it's not coming back till its time for it to come back.**

**BFF:**** Don't you talk logic to me! I will force Mother Nature to make Summer come back! *marches off***

**Me:**** *sighs* I better go after her. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maxi-Pad, but I do own BFF so no stealing!**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Sorry it took me so long to post!**

**BFF:**** Wander and I have been swamped at school, which is the reason why it took so long for her to post this chapter.**

**Me:**** Its also the reason why its taking forever to put up the bonus chap for the Runaway Case, I'm really sorry about that guys, I plan on working on it this weekend and hopefully posting it.**

_**Guest**_**, to answer your question, I started school about two weeks ago, I don't know why my school starts so early, but thankfully we do get out earlier, which is nice.**

_**Chocolatechipcookies13**_**, I agree, Max does sound like a mother, but it is her job to protect him, so she will often be pretty overprotective, kind of like she was in the original series about the Flock**

_**AFanOfFax**_**, I loved your story and hope you update soon, it was really great! If you ever feel that you need any help or advice don't be afraid to ask.**

**BFF:**** I really want summer back!*sobs***

**Me:**** *pats BFF on the back* It's okay, summer will be back. You should do something to make yourself feel better- *pauses and thinks* -Why don't you ask Sapphira Volkov about being a werewolf?**

**BFF:**** *wide-eyed* Sapphira's a werewolf? COOL! Are werewolves really allergic to silver, Sapphira? What's it like when you change into your werewolf form? What's your werewolf form look like?**

**Me:**** Thanks, Sapphira, I think BFF is feeling a lot better now. Okay, let's get on with the story and find out what happens. **

Max's POV

Fang goes inside the house and I follow him in, weaving in and out of the crowd until Fang can't move without bumping into somebody. Me? I have the luxury of being an angel that nobody can see who can phase through anything or anyone. Yeah, I'm that awesome.

Yeah, no.

I hate the fact that I can phase through anything because I can never turn it off. Sure I can "touch" the ground with my feet and move, with some difficulty, inanimate objects. I sound even more like a ghost now, don't I? When I reach out and touch something I can't actually feel it, and as for animate objects, they pass through me as if I was air, which to them, I guess that's all I really am.

_I just wish I knew what touch felt like. I wish I knew what it would be like to be able to hold my ward's hand. _I blink in confusion at my thought and shake my head_. I wish I knew what it would have been like to hold Zeph's hand I mean…_ But for some reason, something within me told me that was a lie. _I've always wanted to hold Zeph, he was like a little brother._ I argued, unsure of why I was. I _had_ meant that I wanted to hold Zeph's hand, right? _I don't know. I don't know._

I redirect my thoughts back to the task at hand. I needed to keep an eye on Fang and steer him away from doing things he shouldn't. I had almost lost him in the sea of people. My phasing abilities came in real handy then and I _literally_ ran through the people separating us in order to reach him.

He stopped just as I finally caught up with him. I paused and took in my surroundings. We were by the kitchen, which had been converted into a bar. A girl with fiery red hair was tending to it, passing out drinks to eager customers every few seconds. She wore a mini skirt that was way too short to be called clothing and a decorated tank top that showed off her breasts. The sight made me sick, which I should point out is supposed to be impossible. Angels don't get sick.

_This girl's got quite a talent then._ I thought to myself sarcastically, I couldn't find it in me to reprimand myself for being so rude and that didn't even bother me. There was just something about her that made me strongly dislike her.

"Hey, Lissa." Fang called out in a business-like tone, and for some reason I was relieved by the tone he took with her rather than some flirtatious one.

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Why was I relieved by that? What is going on with me? Is there something wrong? I'm not supposed to feel these emotions.

_I should stop by Heaven's clinic for an examination when I get a chance._

Lissa turned to Fang, gave a "seductive" smile, and purred: "What'll it be Fangy?"

Fang was unimpressed. His eyes narrowed at the nickname, he obviously was annoyed by it. I felt a smile tug at my lips, and as I discovered this I quickly forced it back into a straight line.

"Blue Moon." He replied. I glanced over to him and gave a pained expression. _Don't drink, Fang. Don't throw your life away, there's so much more to it._

Lissa turned to grab a bottle of the chosen drink and opened it up. She then proceeded to pour it into a cup. _Why is she doing that? _It seemed so wasteful pouring a drink into a cup when it already had a suitable container.

Then I saw her glance around nervously and take something from a drawer. Fang couldn't see what she was doing from his angle, but I could see clearly as she dumped two little pills into his drink. I could practically hear them starting to fizz as they dissolved into the drink.

She just put pills into Fang's drink. She was trying to drug him.

_Not on my watch_. I vowed angrily as Lissa looked around once more before turning around and giving the drink to Fang.

"One Blue Moon." She said proudly, but I could still hear the anxious tremor underlining her voice. I clenched my fists as Fang took the drink in hand.

"Thanks." He said, nodding to her and went to take a swig.

My eyes grew big and I panicked.

"Don't drink it Fang!" I said in desperation, concentrating on him so that he could hear me but nobody else would be able to. I don't want to see him drugged and have God-knows-what done to him while he can't do anything to defend himself. "Lissa drugged it!"

He jumps a bit, startled, and quickly brings the cup back down. He looks around in confusion, and then his eyes settle. _On me._

_No, that's not possible._ I reasoned with myself. He was just staring where he thought the voice he had heard had come from.

"Look at the drink." I told him, his eyes glanced down at it. "Beer doesn't fizz."

He took notice of this phenomenon and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Dump it out and go home." I practically begged him.

Fang walked over to the overflowing trashcan and dumped the drink into it. Then he went home, right? _**Wrong.**_

He then proceeded to the fridge and pulled out a sealed can of Miller Light and cracked it open. After which he tilted the drink back and chugged it down until it was empty. Then he threw away that beer and got another, popping it open and drinking it in big gulps.

In that moment all I wanted to do was scream out in frustration.

It wasn't half an hour later that Fang was drunk as a skunk. (I don't understand the expression, but I'm going to use it anyway.) He stumbled about and danced sloppily. He kissed a few girls, who were just about drunk as he was, for a couple minutes each before he was torn away and tossed back into the crowd. My chest developed this overwhelming pain each time I saw him do this. I didn't understand what it was, but it left me extremely sad and depressed. It made me feel worthless. And maybe I was. After all, my previous ward had died because of me and I couldn't even convince a teenager not to drink. I'm pathetic.

Tears clouded my vision and began to run small streams down my face, they'd be rivers if I wasn't trying so bad to not cry. _It's stupid. Stop crying. Crying doesn't solve anything._ I repeated in my mind.

_But it helps me deal with this pain._ I admitted, sniffling. _Where is this pain even coming from? Why am I feeling all these…_emotions?

I saw Fang stumble my way, pushing away a demanding Lissa. All traces of the pain seemed to leave me at once. How strange? Lissa came back to him and pursed her lips at him. He forced her away again. Apparently even as sloshed as he was, he knew to turn the slut down.

I hated using words like slut and whore, they were such awful insults, but there was no other way to describe Lissa. In just a few short hours I'd seen her kiss at least five guys and take two back to a bedroom and shut the door. I don't think I need to elaborate on what happened in there, I'm pretty sure you get it. If not, well count yourself lucky. I had to learn about what happened behind closed doors like those from Gabriel the Archangel.

_**Forever scarred.**_

Back to the present. Fang gave Lissa one final push away, she huffed and scampered off. Then he dropped down beside me and groaned, pressing his thumbs into his temples. He already had a hangover.

He leaned forward and put his head between his knees. I wished I could pat his back to make him feel better. I'm not sure if it actually worked to do that, but it seemed like it should be the thing I ought to do in that situation. But it was of no use in even trying, my hand would simply pass through him, and then I'd feel even worse than I already do.

"Come on Fang, it's time to go home." I said, standing up. After a minute or so, he did the same and we began our trek back to his house.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Please review!**

**BFF:**** I'm kinda having a love/hate relationship with Fang now after this chapter. He got drunk and kissed other girls in front of Max. He was drunk, but still. Not cool. He made Max cry.**

**Me:**** Well I never said that Fang and Max would have a perfect relationship**

**BFF:**** Of course not! Fang can't even see her! *seethes* I thought this was supposed to be a romance story!**

**Me:**** It is. *smiles* Hehe, I know something that you don't! Something that will **_**greatly**_** affect Fax in this story.**

**BFF:**** Well tell me what it is before you forget again.**

**Me:**** Nope. I'm keeping this one a closely guarded story secret. **

**BFF:**** Then why are you talking about it if you aren't going to tell me about it?**

**Me:**** To torture you, it makes you more excited for the next chap.**

**BFF:**** You are sadistic. **

**Me:**** No I'm not, I just enjoy creating suspense. **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride or Google Translate. *sad face***

**A/N**

**Me:**** Greetings Earthlings!**

**BFF:**** Why are you calling everybody earthlings?**

**Me:**** Because I've been reading a book about aliens, and earthlings sounds cool.**

**BFF:**** What if some of your readers are space aliens though?**

**Me:**** Good point. Let's start over.**

**Greetings Earthlings and Space Aliens!**

**Better?**

**BFF:**** Definitely.**

**Me:**** Moving on, sorry guys it took me so long to post, I've been meaning to write for days, but I hope this chap makes up for it. Also my apologies to anyone reading The Runaway Case, I did write the bonus chap, it's just taking me forever to write all the Truth or Dare stuff, there are so many dares!**

**BFF:**** Come on, Wander! Get on with the story!**

**Me:**** Gosh, aren't you impatient! *smiles***

**BFF:**** Of course I am! Story. Now.**

**Me:**** Okay, here it is.**

Max's POV

The walk back to Fang's house seemed to take much longer than the walk to get to the party had taken a few hours ago.

_I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Fang is hung-over._ I thought sarcastically to myself.

Each step forward with only-half-aware-of-his-surroundings-Fang took as long as taking five normal steps when I was trying not to get somewhere. In other words, Fang is freaking slow as molasses! And the longer it took for us to get back to the house, the longer I had time to think, which was not a good thing, because my thoughts instantly turned to Zeph and his screams began to ring in my ears.

I tried to turn my focus back onto Fang only, to getting him home safely.

I wasn't sure yet, however, whether or not I was going to let him get away with sneaking out of the house, partying, and getting drunk. I should wake his mother before he gets there, Fang needs to go see somebody about this alcohol problem. He needed to talk to somebody about it. _That and he needs to talk about Ella and Maya._

The bad thing was that, deep down inside, I didn't want to turn him in. It was stupid, feeling this way. Why was I even feeling this way? I'm here to help him, that's all. Give him some bad medicine that will make him get better, and then be on my way once he is no longer in need of my assistance.

_Why do it feel like somebody just stabbed me through the heart with a knife?_

The thought of leaving him, it sent pain radiating throughout me. Starting with my chest and slamming into every nerve end till all I wanted to do was cry. My legs wobbled, barely holding me up, I grabbed a light pole near me and leaned my weight into it. A burning sensation made its way up my throat and nearly made me choke.

_There's definitely something wrong with me._

I heard Fang's feet shuffle to a stop behind me and I remembered that I still needed to lead him home. No street was safe at this time of night.

Pulling myself together took an effort. I forced down these strange feelings I was having. I had a job to do, and I refused to screw it up this time.

"Come on, Fang. Home is only a few blocks away." I told him and he trudged along behind me, groaning and clutching his head.

I sighed, closing my eyes and then opening them back up, whispering:

"Why do you get drunk if it gives you so much pain?"

I looked out into the darkness of the night, it was like a blanket over the land, but it wasn't comforting. Night was when the demon came. Night was when Zeph and his family died. Night was when I failed.

"I drink because it numbs the real pain, this headache, its physical, its nothing." Fang said, he didn't slur, but I could tell he wasn't fully aware. He would have never confessed that sober, that I was sure of.

Surprise took me for a moment as I took in what just happened.

_He spoke to me._

I knew he could hear me, but it never occurred to me that he might actually reply to what I was saying. It made my heart lift and the guilt over Zeph's death ease a little. The guilt soon came back, but my heart still beat with happiness. I didn't even bother to question why.

Then suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck raised, and I knew. We were being watched. I could feel it. This wasn't some paranoid feeling that came from losing my last ward, this was true, genuine. Someone was watching us, and the eyes were not friendly.

I backed away toward Fang, and unconsciously went to grab his hand, remembering only seconds before I was about to do it, that I couldn't. I wanted so desperately to hold his hand, to have that reassurance that I wasn't alone.

But that's just not how the world works for me.

"Fang, we've got to get going." I told him and he looked at me in confusion. "It's not safe here. Please, just go as fast as you can."

After an antagonizing moment, what I had said seemed to register with him and he nodded before speed-drunk-walking (about the equivalent to normal paced walking) down the road towards his house.

I followed behind him, that's the direction I felt that malevolent gaze come from. _I'll be damned before I let anybody touch my ward!_

I would destroy Satan himself if he so much as looked Fang's way. I may only be a Guardian, but do not underestimate my fighting abilities. I would wipe the floor with the king of the demons.

As we made our way to the house, I could slowly feel the old me coming back, and I knew what the cause of it was. Fang.

But he was also the cause of my undoing, tearing me apart, like he did when he kissed those girls.

He was chocolate covered cyanide.

We were only a few yards from the house now. The darkness seemed to be closing in on us, as if it was some kind of monster we had awoken and it was hungry for flesh. Our flesh. The blackness was like tar, and my skin felt as if it was too close to a fire. The tongues of that fire licked me and seared me, but I was physically left unscathed. But I knew better than to think that would be the end of it.

"Go, Fang! Get inside!" I whisper-yelled into his ear.

He did as he was told, getting out his keys and opening up the door. Fang turned and sent a worried look in my direction, but I knew it wasn't at me, it was toward the dark evil that was beginning to surround the house.

Fang stood there in the doorway, concern filling his glazed eyes.

"Close the door!" I yelled to him. There was no way what I was about to do would work if that dang door was open.

He closed the door, but I could feel his presence on the other side. My sharp vision caught him peeping through the keyhole.

But he would see nothing.

I nearly fell to my knees, the darkness was so strong, but I stood there defiant. Staring it down as if my death glare would kill it. _Oh, if only…_

An evil chuckle broke the night air. My blood ran cold. I knew that laugh.

It was the demon's laugh.

He stepped out of the darkness, but his face was hidden, as it was the last time we had met. My hands clenched into angry fists and my heart began to pound like crazy. I was scared, but I wasn't about to let my fear show.

"Oh, Maxi, you don't look as broken as last time I saw you, have you moved on from Zephyr so fast? Did you care for him at all?" The demon taunted.

I wanted to scream at him, tear him limb from limb and feed him to winged llamas.

You see, angry Max doesn't really think straight.

That's why, as much as I would love to feed him to winged llamas, I ignore what he says and get straight to business, which is protecting Fang from this devil.

"_Haec est domus custodiri,"_ I spoke aloud, casting my protection over the house and everyone in it. A thin clear bubble formed around it, the demon and I stood outside of the shimmering protection. _"non intrábitis."_ **(The protection "spell" is in Latin, I used Google Translate, here's what it says: "This house is guarded, you shall not enter.")**

The demon hissed at me, but said to me in an only slightly strained voice:

"That's the best you've got?"

"_Daemon exire!"_ I commanded him. _"Hic non receperint vos! De quo egressus es tu ad ignibus atris!" _**("Depart demon! You are not welcomed here! Go back to the dark fires from which you came!")**

The demon bared his teeth at me, letting out an animalistic growl. My fear was gone and only my determination remained. I would see to it that this demon would never touch my Fang.

"_Exeatis! Et si revertamini, daemon, et projiciet te in vacuum." _I promised him, and angels never break promises. **("Depart! And if you return, demon, I shall cast you into the void.")**

The demon merely smiled at me.

"I don't plan on leaving, so I don't think I have much to worry about that, and even if I did, I don't think you would." He replied, a cocky grin spread across his lips.

"Don't underestimate me, demon." I growled, keeping a wary eye on him, following every movement.

"Oh, I don't, if anything I think I overestimate you."

Anger boiled inside me at his words, I wanted to wipe that grin off his face, but I also did not want to touch him, I remembered the way his touch had burned my flesh.

"You know, Maxi, I'm somewhat offended that you don't recognize me."

I looked at him confused. What the hell was he talking about?

"I remember you, you were the demon who killed Zeph." I spat at him.

"Not that Maxi," He chided. "I mean, we knew each other so well, we were best friends, remember?"

I was about to ask him what drug he was taking that screwed his head up so badly, when the shroud of darkness hiding his face from me lifted.

My eyes widened with disbelief and horror. I gasped.

_No, no, no! It can't be!_

I took a step back, and then another.

"Max, aren't you going to give your long lost, best friend a hug?" Sam goaded, holding his hands out wide, as if waiting for me.

My "dead" best friend, Sam, was a demon.

Sam was the demon who had killed Zeph and made me watch him burn.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Betcha didn't see that coming! PLOT TWIST! **

**BFF:**** How? Whaaaa? Why? I can't even—WHY WOULD MAX'S BEST FRIEND DO THAT TO HER?!**

**Me:**** *mischievous smile* That's for me to know and you to find out.**

**BFF:**** EVIL!**

**Me:**** *smiles* **

**Anyways, let's get to replying to some of those reviews, shall we? **

**Btw, thank you **_**Cm cookiemonster (Guest) **_**for the cookie, it was delicious!**

**BFF:**** Yeah, okay. Here's a question from **_**Pain-is-just-a-Message**_**, "Will Nudge have a chapter/POV soon?"**

**Me:**** I wasn't actually planning on it, but that sounds like a good idea, it won't be the next chap, but I'll try to see if I can find a good spot where I can put in her POV.**

**And don't fret **_**Strawwberryz**_**, the story is far from over.**

**Thank you to everybody who reviewed! You guys are the freaking bomb diggity! **

**BFF****: And don't forget to PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride, JP does.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, sorry I took so long to update…again. I meant to update this weekend, but let's just say Friday the 13****th**** turned into Weekend the 13****th****. **

**BFF:**** At least you got the chapter up.**

**Me:**** *sigh* Yeah, I guess, I was hoping to get more done. Forewarning: This chapter might be a little choppy, I wrote a bunch of little excerpts of it on different days, so yeah…**

**Btw, **_**FaximumEverdeen**_** you must be a fortune teller! That's pretty sweet that you could guess who it was going to be!**

**BFF:**** Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, your reviews really do help. Please keep reviewing!**

Max's POV

"Max, aren't you going to give your long lost, best friend a hug?" Sam said with a smirk, opening his arms out wide, awaiting a hug that I would never in a million years give him.

He wasn't my Sam anymore.

He was the demon who forced me to watch Zeph die. My Sam would never do that to me.

"No." I whispered, backing away from him, shaking my head slightly from side to side, wanting more than anything for this to just be a nightmare.

Sam let his arms down with a sigh.

"Well that's a real shame," He said pulling out a small black dagger that had been hidden in his sleeve. "I was hoping to get to stab you in the back with this. Very symbolic don't you think?" An angry smirk crossed his face. "Of course you do, don't you, you little_ backstabber_?"

I took another step back towards the safety of the protection spell I had cast. I was only a few feet from it.

"Backstabber?" I asked him in confusion. When had I ever stabbed Sam in the back? Or the demon that stood before me for that matter?

"You left me for dead, in the hands of demons no less." He spat at me, the venom dripping from his lips and I flinched back, not from the tone the demon took with me, but I could hear Sam speaking those words, not the demon. The demon and Sam were not separate beings, however, they were one and the same now.

I shook my head. "They told us that you were dead!" I yelled at him. Emotion brought tears to my eyes. Anger, grief, sadness, confusion, and despair. My best friend had become a demon. He wasn't dead, he was worse than dead. All the good that had been in him was wiped out by the darkness of the demon, reflecting back only anger, jealousy, and hatred. Hatred for me.

"And you believed them?" Sam looked disgusted, even as a demon he had no love for demons. How ironic.

I gave a small nod. I had believed them, and who wouldn't? After all they had killed him and dumped his lifeless body on the ground right in front of us.

"You're even dumber than I thought." He spat, bringing up the dagger, reminding me of its presence. It was no ordinary dagger, it wasn't of the human world, it was from Hell, and it was one of the few things that could kill an angel.

The thought was forced to the back of my mind as he drew closer.

"You were my best friend, Max, you said we'd get out of there together." He gritted his teeth and turned away for a moment, true hurt crossed his features. I wanted to reach out to him, but I held back. With him being a demon, I didn't know how he'd react to me trying to comfort him anymore. "How could you believe I was dead? How could you believe them?" His voice was pained and I could hear a little bit of the real Sam in it.

"They dumped your body right in front of us as they said it. You were bloodied and you weren't breathing, what was I supposed to think?" I whispered as the memory flashed before my eyes. I quickly shut out the images.

"Did you even check?" He yelled at me, turning towards me viciously. The darkness around him writhed. I gulped. The darkness almost looked…_Hungry._

"They wouldn't let us close…" I whispered, almost to myself. Then everything fell into place. They made us think Sam was dead, and then let the angels rescue Jeff and me. We thought Sam was dead, so we didn't look for him, and when we didn't come for him he would think we had abandoned him and turn to the only people he had. The demons themselves. But how did Sam survive? "We thought you were dead, Sam. If we had known you were alive we would have searched all of creation for you—"

"Don't lie to me!" Sam bellowed, pointing an angry finger at me. "You didn't even bother to check if I was alive. You knew I was, didn't you? You left me!"

"Sam!" I yelled, grabbing his attention. "You were my best friend, if I had known—"

"You knew."

"No, I didn't. I think not breathing and a dagger in your chest are very good indicators of death, don't you?" I gritted out, my fists clenched.

Memories of his glowing, silver, angel blood leaking from his mouth, ears, and cuts that scoured his body flooded my thoughts. I remembered the blank stare of his lifeless eyes and a blood-curdling scream that took me several minutes to realize was my own. His chest did not rise and fall with his breathing, it didn't move at all. I had raced forward to grab him, to shake him awake if I could, but the demons caught me and threw me back into Jeff's arms. Then their leader knelt down beside my unresponsive best friend, threw his arm back, and thrust a black dagger into Sam's heart.

The same dagger that Sam held now.

Sam's eyes narrowed. "There was no dagger you lying whore."

I gasped. My hand flew to my mouth, covering it in shock. I took another step backwards, away from him.

Sam—Sam would never say that to me.

"I'm not lying Sam." I whispered, my vision blurring.

Sam let out a dark laugh. "Do you take me for gullible, Max?" He shook his head. "I may have believed all your lies before, but I know better now. I'm not the same Sam you knew."

No he wasn't. This Sam was dark, vengeful, and angry, whereas my Sam had been light, joyful, and full of life. This form before me looked like Sam and his memories. But the memories were twisted and warped by the demon that now possessed his body. Sam's light and happiness were snuffed out and replaced by a cold and unforgiving darkness.

He wasn't the only one who had changed, however.

"I'm not the same Max you knew either." I said with new found determination.

His presence here was a threat to my ward. To Fang.

The demon had killed my last ward. There was no reason to believe that he wouldn't hesitate to do the same to Fang. I refused to let that happen. Used-to-be-best-friend or no, this demon wouldn't live through the day if he touched a hair on Fang's head.

"_Relinquo vobis dixi, daemon."_ I told him. The tone of my voice scary to even me. **("I told you to leave, demon.")**

"What? No good-bye kiss? I thought you were trying to convince me that you were my friend, Max." The demon taunted, there was no trace of the real Sam, and somewhere, deep down I knew that there never would be again. What I thought I had seen of Sam was probably no more than an act by the demon.

"I was _Sam's_ friend, you aren't him. He's d-dead." I said as strongly as I could, but I couldn't help but stutter over the word 'dead'.

The demon growled at me in anger. "Are you sure about that, Max?" He glanced over my shoulder, looking to the window, through which Fang now looked. "Or is there another reason you want me gone?" He smirked at him and I swear I saw Fang stiffen and glare as Sam turned back to me.

"Is that your new ward, Maxi?" He smiled evilly, malicious intent displayed clearly on his face.

_Don't you even look at him, you monster._

My fists clenched and my teeth gritted.

"I wouldn't think they would have put you back on duty after the accident."

Fiery rage built inside me. _How dare he call what happened to Zeph an accident?_

"It wasn't an accident! You killed him!" I screamed at him. Energy coiled up within me and I channeled it to my will, turning it into blue-tinted light in my hands that crackled and popped.

"_Ego vos arguo, daemon."_ I steely said, grinding my teeth together and letting the energy loose on the demon. **("I rebuke you, demon.")**

The blue light knocked him back several yards and he hissed with anger. I took a fighting stance, narrowing my eyes. My light shined brighter as the demon stood and glared at me. I shot my own death glare back at him.

Then suddenly he turned, gathered a glob of darkness in his hand and shot it at me with pinpoint accuracy.

I didn't have time to react.

It hit me and I flew backwards, into the bubble of the safety spell I had cast earlier. I hit the dirt and groaned. I tried to sit up, but I couldn't. I was paralyzed. I began to panic, but felt oddly serene. I was loosing consciousness. He must have hit me harder than I thought.

Sam yelled out in frustration, the sound seemed distant, but I could tell it was close by. Then there was a flapping noise and I knew he had left.

Another sound caught my fading attention, something squeaking and then something slamming. I heard the quick and repetitive crunching of the grass and then something warm and smooth touch my skin, soon followed by its twin. They encompassed me and lifted me up above the grass, bouncing me up and down as they carried me across the ground.

As the soft darkness surrounded me and dragged me down into unconsciousness I heard these four words:

"I am so sorry."

**A/N**

**BFF:**** Who's the mystery person who picked Max up at the end? Iggy? Nudge? Wait…it couldn't be Sam could it? Like Sam two-face or something? He's got a good side and a bad side?**

**Me:**** Haha, no BFF, Sam doesn't have a good side and a bad side. Once you're a demon, you are permanently bad from then on out. Sorry to anyone who was hoping that Sam could somehow redeem himself by killing off his demon side or something.**

**BFF:**** Who picked her up?**

**Me:**** It's a surprise!**

**BFF:**** I hate surprises!**

**Me:**** No you don't, you love them!**

**BFF:**** *grumbles***

**Me: ****Well, I hoped you liked the chapter, please if you have any questions review or PM me. AND PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey everybody, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! To say the last couple of weeks were crazier than the Joker on crack cocaine would be an understatement. Still I feel absolutely horrible about not updating sooner, especially since I left you off in a cliffy. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, your reviews were one of the few things that have been keeping me going these past weeks, thank you so much for your support.**

**BFF:**** Wander and I don't want to make you wait any longer for the chapter, so we're keeping this A/N short and hope you really like this chapter!**

Max's POV

_I stood in the darkness. I couldn't feel the grass between my toes or the breeze that rustled the trees around me. There was an old, wooden house to my right, a single light glowing from its second story window. The house was familiar, but it took me a moment to place it. It was Zeph's house. _

I must be dreaming._ I thought to myself. _I hope it's not another nightmare…

_My feet moved me toward the house. I wasn't in control of my own actions. I never was in this dream until it was too late to change anything._

_I just hoped that this nightmare would be cut short, that Angel would wake me before it got bad. Then I remembered I was on Earth and she was in Heaven. There'd be nobody to save me from this. A sense of dread filled me. I didn't want to have to go through this nightmare again. _

_My wings spread out and I braced myself, knowing what was coming next. My body didn't prepare, however, and the demon easily caught me and threw me to the ground. My skin seared where he touched me, just like it had the first time. I screamed and the demon leaned down, his mouth next to my ear, a smile on his lips. _

_I knew what would come next. He would say that he couldn't tell me how long he had waited to hear me scream, but what he really wanted to see was me broken. Then the house would go up in flames and my precious, little Zephyr would die. I could feel the tears slid down my face even through the nightmare. _

_I'm sure you could imagine my surprise when the first words out of his mouth were:_

"_Max, you are broken, but you still fight. You still have light in your eyes despite all I've done. It is frustrating to no end."_

_He seethed and let out an angry cry, but then he calmed himself and continued. _

"_It's obvious that breaking you isn't good enough, so I guess I'll have to shatter you instead." Sam said with a malicious smirk on his face._

_Suddenly a figure moved and stood behind the window. _

_My breath hitched._

_**Fang.**_

"_No." I whispered, and then became frantic, thrashing about._

"_No!" I screamed, struggling against the demon. "Fang! Get out of th—" Sam covered my mouth, the contact burned me. I struggled all the more. _

_Then the air filled with the scent of wood smoke. I gazed, horrified, at the building which was now engulfed in flames. Fang pounded against the window, his room began to fill with smoke and flames licked at him, but the glass would not break._

_I went wild, punching at Sam, but I could not get him to budge, no matter how hard I hit him._

_Then the screaming started. Fang was screaming. I felt myself tear inside and I fought all the harder, but as the screams died away, my strength, my will, they faded as well._

"_Fang!" I cried out in one final outburst, and then he fell silent._

_I sunk down into the ground and sobbed._

_Sam pushed off of me and left, a triumphant grin on his face._

I woke up crying, sobbing and choking on my own emotions.

Slowly I became aware of my surroundings.

I was tucked under a brown, yellow, and white quilted blanket on top of a soft, queen sized bed. My head rested on a soaked white pillow and the fabric shimmered with my Light filled tears. That's why angels' tears were so special. They carried a bit of an angel's life force within them. Not enough to be of concern, however, an angel could cry for months without putting so much as a dent in his Light supply.

After that dream, I felt like crying for decades.

"It was just a dream." I whispered, trying to calm myself down. Crying never helps anybody. My job is to help people, to help Fang. I need to stop crying.

I sit up on the bed, phasing through the blankets. I turn and sit on the edge, wondering how I had gotten here, but all I could remember was Sam throwing something at me and then darkness.

I stand up and look out the window. I'm somewhere on the second story of somebody's house. Nudge probably found me and took me over to Iggy's to look after me till I woke up. _She's a good friend._ I thought to myself, but then my eyebrows furrowed and worry consumed me. _Fang._ I got knocked out and Sam had been there. He could have killed Fang while I was sleeping! I began to panic, but then I heard something downstairs.

"Bacon's ready!" A woman's voice called out. "Fang! Get in here and eat before it gets cold!"

I didn't even register that I had moved until I found myself at the bottom of the staircase, heaving a sigh of relief as I saw Fang walk toward the kitchen. I took a glance around. I recognized the room, this wasn't Iggy's house, this was Fang's house. Nudge must have known that I would panic and left me here with Fang knowing that if I stayed over at Iggy's with her that I would just fly over here in hysterics the instant I woke up and realized where I was.

_Nudge is really considerate. I need to remember to thank her later. _

Calmly I walked into the kitchen where Fang and the woman, I recognized her as his mother from his file, were eating a breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs and buttered toast.

Fang's mother had black hair, just like her son, and brown eyes. I looked over at Fang. He had black, obsidian eyes. _He must have gotten them from his father I guess._ Then I notice that his eyes are a bit bloodshot. He must still be recovering from his hangover. I sigh and turn my gaze back to Ms. Walker, I can only assume that's her last name, I don't know whether or not she had kept her husband's last name after their divorce.

Fang's mother has a kind face, a smile seems to be sketched into it and her eyes are bright. I can tell she's a caring and loving mother, but the faint, pre-mature wrinkles in her face tell me of the stress she has been under. I glance over at Fang. His mother doesn't deserve what he's doing to her, and I know deep down that Fang doesn't mean to do this to her. He's just confused and hurt and he doesn't know where to turn to.

That's why I'm here. To give him somebody to turn to.

But I have to be careful, and right now, I'm scared that I'm doing him more harm than good. After all, I had brought Sam into his life. Somebody who would do anything to hurt me and those I care about.

"Fang, time for school." His mother says to him, lovingly kissing him on the top of the head, he doesn't reciprocate the emotion. He just sits there and then turns to grab his bag. He heads for the door and I follow him. Fang opens the door and calls over his shoulder:

"Bye, mom."

_At least he said goodbye before leaving. _I sigh inwardly.

Soon we are outside and heading for his school.

Or so I thought.

As soon as we hit the end of the drive-way he turns and walks across the street. To. Iggy's. House.

Now I'm furious. I've been chasing him all over the place, protecting him from creepy bartenders and psycho ex-best friends, and dealing with his drinking problem for every single moment of my time since I first set eyes on him and now this? Can't I get a break? Okay, technically I was asleep for part of that, but that was due to getting knocked out _protecting him_, so it still counts as dealing with him.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" I ask him as he opens the gate to his friend's backyard.

He smirks. He _smirks!_

_Oh, if I could strangle him right now…_

"I'm going to have an educational lesson with my friend Iggy." He says in a mocking voice, opening the gate and slipping inside.

I scoff.

"And how exactly is hanging out with your friend more educational than _school_?" I challenge.

He grins evilly, in a way that makes me want to melt—wait! What? Makes me want to melt? Oh, just forget I said that. What is wrong with me? I really need to go see the doctor.

"He's teaching me how to build a pipe bomb." Fang says.

I groaned and facepalmed.

"What?" He asks, faking innocence.

"Would it kill you to try to make my job easier?" I asked, letting out a sigh. "Or at least some appreciation for what I've done for you?"

"And what exactly is your job?" He asked me, closing the gate behind me.

I blushed, though I'm not really sure why. "To protect you."

He just laughed. "Protect me?" I felt my anger build up.

"Well obviously you suck at keeping yourself safe." I retorted. "In less than 24 hours I've had to save you from two people. Some girl who was willing to drug you in order to get into your pants and rape you," **(Guys can get raped too)** Fang looked extremely uncomfortable as I said that and I saw him visibly shiver in disgust. "And a de—" I cut myself off, realizing what I was about to say. Some people don't believe in angels and demons, if I told him a demon tried to kill him he might not believe me and blow off anything else I say. That would get him killed.

"And a what?" Fang asked curiously.

I choose my words a bit more carefully this time. "And a dude who wanted you dead."

"Dead?" Fang asked, shock registered on his face.

"Yeah." I replied rather lamely.

A minute or so of silence passed by awkwardly as we waited in the backyard.

Then Fang spoke. "You weren't going to say 'dude' when you first started to say it. What were you really going to say?"

I bit my lip. I didn't know how to respond. I couldn't lie. That was against my nature, and lying to him seemed like such a horrid thing to do. So I decided to simply remain silent.

"I can handle it." Fang insisted. I stayed silent and Fang stared in my direction. I knew he couldn't see me, but I shifted nervously under his gaze. He waited a moment for me to reply. I still didn't say anything. "What are you afraid of?"

Images flashed across my mind. Demons cornering me in Hell all those years ago. Sam "dead" on the floor in a pool of silver blood. Zeph's house going up in flames. My old best friend as a demon.

Fang dying.

My body shook a bit. I tried to still myself with no success.

Then I heard noise from inside the house. Iggy was coming and Fang was talking to me. He wouldn't understand why Iggy wouldn't be able to hear me. I turned to him and spoke quickly.

"Whatever you do don't talk to Iggy about me and only call out to me or talk to me if your life is in danger, okay?"

Fang looked startled and confused. "Wait, what?"

"Just trust me, please?" I said to him, climbing a nearby fence.

"Where are you going?" He called out.

"Don't worry, I'm not going far. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Just don't blow yourself up, okay?"

Fang nodded, confused, just as the backdoor opened and Iggy sprang out.

"Fang, my man, ready for a fun-filled day of blowing stuff up?"

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hmmmm, I wonder if anybody caught my little clue? **

**BFF:**** Max sure didn't, she can be pretty dense at times.**

**Max:**** Hey!**

**BFF:**** It's true! I mean come on, how long did it take for you and Fang to get together? It was so obvious that you two were soul mates.**

**Max:**** *death glare***

**Me:**** Okay, you two, calm down. Max and Fang are together now, that's all that matters.**

**BFF:**** But they're not together in your story! They haven't even kissed yet!**

**Max:**** How do you expect for us to kiss in Wander's story when Fang can't see or touch me?**

**Me:**** Hehehe *sing-song voice* I know something you don't. I know something that you don't!**

**BFF:**** Ahhhhh! Tell us! **

**Me:**** No, I don't think I will, or at least not yet, I want you to figure it out on your own.**

**BFF:**** *sigh* Well, as I die a slow and painful death from anticipation of what is going to happen next, PLEASE REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer:**_** Whoooo-hoooooo! No homework tonight! *sigh* Finally! *happy disco dance* Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Wander doesn't own Maxie-poo. **

**Max:**** DON'T CALL ME MAXIE-POO! *chases after Disclaimer***

**Disclaimer:**** HELP ME!**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, guess what? No homework! Holler! Yeah! And guess what that means?**

**BFF:**** NEW CHAPTER!**

**Me:**** *happy disco dance***

Nudge's POV **(shout out to **_**Pain-is-just-a-message**_**!)**

I groaned as the sun came up. Iggy and Gazzy would be up soon causing chaos. _How in the world do they cause this much trouble?_ Their combined destructive powers could topple Mount Everest. It was hard to keep up with the two of them, let alone keep them safe. Granted, I was Iggy's guardian, not Gazzy's, so technically I don't _have to_ watch Gazzy, but that bit of motherly nature in me wouldn't let that slide.

_Why in the freaking world doesn't Gazzy have his own guardian angel?_

I don't mean to complain. Gazzy's an amazing kid, but he seriously wore me out. Both of them did! Between flying all over creation, disarming some bombs that could have been harmful to the pair, and trying to guide them towards doing the right thing, I was exhausted.

_I wish Max, Ariel, or Bridget was here, and then I could at least talk. _

The only person out of that trio that I would probably be able to talk to was Max, and she hated talking about fashion, which was what I talked about most of the time. Fashion and clothes were some things that I had found extreme interest in with the human world. Most angels found it odd.

However Bridget had found it intriguing, we used to talk about it all the time before her assignment. Before everything went down hill. Before she went crazy. Before she had her memory wiped and entered into a vegetative state.

She'd been so excited on assignment day, we all were, Max, Bridget, and I. We received our wards with an air of giddiness. Max had gotten Zeph as her ward that day. He had been two years old at the time. It made me depressed to think about what had happened to him, but I know he's in a better place, or will be soon. Max was still affected by his death, just like she was affected by Sam's death. I could see it in her eyes when I looked at her. That emptiness in them.

_Damn demon._

I quickly reprimanded myself for cursing.

That day I had gotten a little boy named Peter, he was a cancer patient, and you guessed it, he loved Peter Pan. At first I had been distraught and disgruntled at having received a cancer patient as my ward. It seemed like they had set me up for failure. How was I supposed to save a boy who was supposed to die within the year? My mind was quickly changed, however, as I began to know him. He was a lively child, bouncing up and down on his bed and always wanting to go outside to play. I began to love the child and swore to myself that I wouldn't let him die, and thankfully God had decided it wasn't anywhere near time for the child to come to him. Each day I transferred a bit of my Light into the boy. It left me weakened, but over the course of eight months I was able to cure him of his cancer.

Then, after he was cured, I was recalled by Heaven to be a healer. It was just recently that I had been put back on the list of guardians.

Bridget had received a teenage boy named Dylan Harrow. **(Hehe movie reference Harrow, **_**Barrow Harrow**_**, anybody who can tell me what movie this is from gets a shout out! Hint: Its 3 words and the first word starts with the letter C ) **He was kind and sweet and Bridget absolutely adored him. She would tell me of her daily adventures of following him around with excitement in her eyes. Bridget and I were stationed in the same town so it was easy to get together and talk. As time passed by, we saw less and less of one another. She became increasingly distant and skittish, always watching her back. She never let Dylan out of her sight, not for even one second.

I knew something was wrong, something that had to do with Dylan and her. I had a feeling that it was something that was going on between the two of them. Even though that was impossible, however my gut kept telling me it was still a possibility.

Then _that_ day happened. The day that Dylan died.

Dylan was driving home late from work and was hit by a drunk driver. He was killed on impact. Bridget had been in the car with him.

She hadn't been hurt, she couldn't have been, she was an angel, but she was absolutely beside herself. She tried to bring him back to life several times, but she just couldn't save him. He was too far gone.

Bridget went crazy after his funeral. She went on a rampage through the town, causing a tornado that thankfully didn't kill anyone, but destroyed the town.

When the angel authorities tried to capture her, she ran from them and charged Heaven's gate, pounding on the doors and demanding that Dylan be brought back from the grave. Eventually she was caught and taken to a holding cell in Heaven where she couldn't hurt anyone. They tried to rehabilitate her, but nothing worked and they were forced to wipe the slate clean, taking away her memories.

But something went wrong, she fell into a coma and she hasn't woken back up. I don't think she ever will.

Voices and noises coming from down stairs veered me away from memory lane and back to the present.

The boys were playing hooky today, skipping school. They were "sick". I tried to reason with Iggy about the importance of school, telling him that he shouldn't skip, but he wouldn't hear it. That boy is stubborn as a jammed door.

I walked downstairs and saw the boys chasing each other around the room. **(Oh, btw, I forgot to mention it earlier, Iggy isn't blind in this story. Or he's not supposed to be at least. If I wrote that he was somewhere could somebody please tell me so I can go back and fix it?)** Apparently Iggy had stolen Gazzy's teddy bear and was threatening to show it to the girl Gazzy had a crush on at school.

"Give it back!" Gazzy growled and lunged at Iggy.

The strawberry-blonde haired pyro dodged and ran down a hallway cackling like the maniac he was. Gazzy charged after him and disappeared down the hall. I heard a tumbling noise and protesting sounds coming from Iggy. Gazzy yelled at him and I heard some more crashing about. Then Gazzy stomped back down the hallway and went into his room. He rummaged through his things and, once, I assumed, he had found a suitable enough hiding place for Mr. Bear, he came back out.

Iggy emerged from the hallway, rubbing the back of his head. Then he looked out the window, a smile crept onto his face.

"Hey, Gazzy!" He called out. "Fang's here!"

Oh no, Fang was here too? _Max is not going to be happy._

**A/N**

**Me:**** So what did you think? Not much action in this chap :/ but I hope you liked it. I didn't really like writing in Nudge's POV so I probably won't do it again, maybe later, but not likely, I don't really feel like I portrayed her very well in this chap. I guess this chapter is more of a filler in on a bit of the history of the characters. I'm not quite happy with it. It seems kind of boring to me, but I hope you like it more than I do. **

**BFF:**** I just want Max and Fang to kiss already.**

**Me:**** *sighs* The Fax in this story is going to be slow. I'm trying to develop a relationship. *smirks* Anyways, how would you propose Fang and Max kiss? They can't touch each other, remember?**

**BFF:**** Well…maybe Fang **_**can**_** see and touch her?**

**Me:**** But that's impossible, humans can't see or touch angels.**

**BFF:**** Well…I don't know, I just want them to kiss!**

**Me:**** *smirks***

**Let's get on to the responses:**

_**Crazed Angel (Guest)**_** Max is not a fallen angel, nor did she become human, she is a guardian angel sent down to earth to protect a human, in this case she is protecting Fang. As for Max driving Fang crazy by talking too much, I'd say that's debatable, I'd like to keep that thought up in the air, I don't want to give away too much just yet. **

_**Desperatelyobvious**_** Zephyr was able to hear Max when she was his guardian, but she usually limited her communication to speaking with him through his dreams. As for whatever Sam threw at Max making her visible, I think that is a very interesting theory, I can't prove or disprove it yet though, got to keep a bit of the mystery alive, right? Otherwise this story would be boring.**

_**BiteMeBro522**_** don't rage and die of anticipation! The chapter is up!**

**BFF:**** *randomly starts singing What Makes You Beautiful***

**Me:**** Did I ever tell you that BFF is a huge One Direction fan? No? Well, she's a Directioner. Not the stalkerish kind! Just the 'I know everyone of their songs/ I can tell Harry, Louis, Zayn, Niall, and Liam apart by just looking at their eyes/ Drooling over one of the boys in particular' kind. **

**BFF:**** "That's what makes you beautiful!" *singing***

**Me:**** Oh, yeah, Gabby is a huge fan too.**

**BFF:**** *abruptly stops singing and glares***

**Me:**** What?**

**BFF:**** I am not Gabby.**

**Me:**** No, but you're based off of her.**

**BFF:**** Maybe, but that doesn't mean I like all the things she likes.**

**Me:**** Who's your 1D crush?**

**BFF:**** *blushes* Harry.**

**Me:**** My point exactly. Gabby's crush is Harry.**

**BFF:**** *fumes* Argh! *lightbulb over head moment* *evil grin* Well, while we're on the subject of crushes, why don't you tell your readers who your 1D crush is?**

**Me:**** NO! *blushes***

**BFF:**** Well, since you're holding your own shout out thing, how about I hold one too? Anybody who can guess who Wander's One Direction crush is gets a shout out!**

**Me:**** NO! *chases after BFF as she runs away* You are evil!**

**BFF:**** *runs* You told mine! *laughs evilly* Please keep reviewing! **


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys and gals! Sorry it took me so long to update, I'd say it was homework and I was busy, but the truth is, I got lazy, sorry!**

**BFF:**** Okay, onto the shout outs! **

**Me:**** Shout out to **_**Robotic She-wolf**_**! City of Ember was the movie I was referencing last chapter. Good job!**

**BFF:**** Nobody has guessed correctly as to what Wander's 1D crush is yet, actually only one person has guessed so far, so shout out to **_**carnicoGalibur**__**(Guest)**_** for participating! Please keep guessing! Please? I must embarrass Wander! **

**Me:**** And also thank you to **_**carnicoGalibur**_** and everyone for being so supportive, it really does mean a lot to me. **

**I'll answer some more reviews at the end, but I think you guys have waited long enough due to my laziness, so let's get to the chapter!**

Max's POV

I climbed up onto the fence and walked along its top with ease. Angels had a knack for being well balanced. _Finally!_ _A good trait! _

_Well, I guess the wings are a good trait too. I love being able to fly._

The fence didn't creak or groan under my weight. It wasn't like I didn't weigh anything and I wasn't putting pressure on the fence, it was just one of those laws of the universe. Angels couldn't interact with objects of the human world unless they really concentrated on moving them. So, since I wasn't really concentrating on interacting with the fence, I didn't.

_I would make one hell of a ninja._

I got to the edge of the fence, there was a tree beside it, and a branch within easy reach. I turned and saw Iggy, Gazzy, and Fang greet one another. Fang had a giant grin on his face. These people made him happy. I smiled. Seeing Fang happy alleviated my heart. These guys were good for him, even if they were little trouble makers and full of shenanigans, even if they made bombs and pranked teachers. Iggy and Gazzy were good for Fang. Around them, he wouldn't need to drown his sorrows with alcohol.

_Maybe if Nudge and I can join forces we can help these boys._

I leaped up into the tree and sat down on a thick branch, swinging my feet back and forth as I watched the boys play with their explosive toys. I shook my head. Making bombs was fine and dandy, but I really hope they never plan to use them in destructive ways towards other people.

I see Nudge walk out into the backyard, the boys' backs are to her, not that it matters because they can't see her. She spots me sitting in the tree and flies up to me while the boys have their noses stuck in the instruction manual Iggy brought out. It looks like he printed it from a computer.

Nudge sits down on the branch beside me dramatically, I don't know how someone can sit down dramatically, but somehow she can do it.

"Hey." She says.

"Hi, Nudge." I greet her. "How are you doing?"

"I am sooooo _tiiiiired_!"

I gave a short laugh. What she said wasn't really funny, but it was _how_ she said it, letting her inner drama queen out. Not that Nudge chained up her inner drama queen, in fact that side of her came out a lot, it was just that, for some reason or another, it was funny at the moment. Don't ask me how! I can't tell you! I'm too flustered about what I'm supposed to do with Fang at the moment. What about when Fang isn't around Iggy and Gazzy? How will he cope? With alcohol? And that's the case, then how am I going to get him to stop?

_Fang…_

I sighed.

_What am I going to do?_

"So whatcha been doing?" Nudge asks me, knocking me out of my thoughts and back into the conversation.

"Watching Fang. Trying to keep him out of trouble. You know, the usual stuff." I replied briefly.

Nudge doesn't look satisfied. She leans up against the tree trunk.

"What happened last night? I heard a lot of commotion outside, but by the time I got a chance to check out what was going on, there was nobody there." She asked me.

_How am I supposed to explain what happened? How do I break it to her that Sam's a demon? _

_Can I even bring myself to tell her?_

_Should I even tell her?_

I can't decide what to do about the situation. I don't answer.

"Max? Tell me what happened, Max." She says in an authoritative tone. Or at least her attempt at one.

I still don't answer.

"Max, tell me what happened or I'll duct tape you to a chair and give you a make-over."

"The demon showed up last night, I fought him while I was protecting Fang and he knocked me out. That's where you came in I'm guessing." _Man, that got me talking, didn't it?_ "Thanks for taking me back inside by the way, that was really—"

"What the hockey sticks are you talking about?" Nudge asked, bewildered. (Oh, and by the way if you're wondering, Nudge likes to substitute random words for where curse words would normally be. Hence the whole 'hockey sticks' thing.)

"_The demon._ The one that k—killed Zeph, he came over and—" I started.

"No, no. That's awful and everything and we'll talk about that in a minute, but what are you talking about 'That's where you came in' and 'thanks for taking me back inside'? I haven't seen you since assignment day."

Suddenly there was a huge explosion and a cloud of dust and dirt erupted from the middle of the backyard. For a moment I was in shock and then the panic arose. I was about to leap right off that branch to make sure Fang and the others were okay when the dust cleared and they were all whooping and hollering.

My eyes narrowed at them, but I didn't do anything. This was dangerous and stupid, but there wasn't much I could really do about it except for drive Fang away from Iggy and Gazzy, and that was _not _going to happen. They were good for him, even if they were horribly bad examples when it came to blowing stuff up.

Nudge on the other hand was absolutely furious.

"You little butt monkeys! Argh! You scared me half to death and you're sitting there laughing your rear ends off! I should send a herd of rainbow colored llamas after you and turn you into a pair of spider monkeys! Maybe then you wouldn't go and try to blow yourselves up! On second thought, I should turn you into a pair of goldfish and then I could keep an eye on you! Then I wouldn't have to run all over creation trying to—" I clamped a hand over her mouth. She calmed down grudgingly, crossing her arms, before turning back to me, curious once more.

"You thought I took you back inside Fang's house?"

I nodded, the sudden realization coming over me. Nudge didn't bring me back inside Fang's house.

"If I didn't take you back inside, then who did?" She voiced my thoughts.

_Who _did_ take me back inside? It wasn't Nudge. It couldn't have been James or Angel. James was out on duty in Africa and Angel was in Heaven right now. Who was it? A random angel walking down the street perhaps? But why would they take me inside Fang's house, they wouldn't know I was his guardian, would they? But it's the only lead I have, all other possibilities were impossible._

"It must have been a random angel." I reasoned. Nudge nodded, thinking over the possibility.

"I don't know of any other angels in the area, but I guess it must have been one traveling through town."

"I guess."

I looked down and watched as the boys assembled another explosive device. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Why did humans have such an obsession with getting so close to death? I've been told it was for an adrenaline rush. Somehow it makes them feel more alive. I don't really get it, why would anyone risk life to somehow feel 'more alive'? How can you feel more alive than you already are? _Beats me._ But I'm an angel, I'm not supposed to understand everything about humans and their strange behaviors. After all, I'm not a human.

"So, you fought the demon?" Nudge said with obvious curiosity.

"Yup."

"What exactly happened?"

"He showed up and threatened Fang, so I fought him, got knocked out, and mysteriously wound up in Fang's spare bedroom." I told her, keeping it short.

"Did you beat the demon up?"

"I got knocked out." I replied, my voice a bit colder than I'd meant it to be.

"Did you at least get a hit in on him? I hope you did. Would serve that disgusting little banana peal right."

I gave a tight smile, my lips curling a bit at the ends. "Yeah." But then it faded as I remembered who the demon was—no, _had been_.

"Nudge?" I asked nervously. I didn't want to tell her, but I had to. What if he showed up and caught her off guard?

"Yeah?"

The back door to the porch slammed open, startling us both. In the doorway stood a slight, but strong-looking woman with striking pale blue eyes and bright blond hair. To say you could see the steam blowing out her ears would be an understatement. This lady was _livid_.

"That's Iggy and Gazzy's mom." Nudge whispered to me.

I glanced at the boys' faces, their eyes were wide and frightful.

"Man, they are gonna get it." I let slip, not bothering to recover the comment, it was true.

The woman marched right over to the pair of blond boys.

"Mom, I can expla—" Iggy began.

"Not a word out of you, young man." His mother snapped, grabbing both Iggy and Gazzy by the ears. The boys yelped in protest. "Now, both of you, go into your rooms and take out every bit of bomb-making materials out of there and bring it back down stairs. I'll have a trashcan waiting for you, and if I go up there and find anything afterwards, anything at all, I will double the amount of time I will ground you for each and every piece." She let go of their ears. "Oh, and before I forget. Iggy, give me your keys, and Gazzy, I'll need your phone."

The pair groaned in protest as they handed over the items. They then headed upstairs to clear their rooms, leaving Fang in the yard.

The woman turned to Fang.

_Uh-oh._

"As for you, young man, I will be calling your mother about this." She said, and then turned, heading back inside the house.

I both heard and saw Fang sigh. This was going to suck for him, but hey, if you're going to go behind your parents' backs, be ready to face the consequences of them finding out.

Nudge and I sat there for a moment, just absorbing what had happened.

"Max?" My friend asked, grabbing my attention.

"Yeah?"

"What were you going to tell me earlier, you know, before Iggy and Gazzy's mom showed up?"

I bit my lip, and turned away, when I said it I didn't want to see the look on her face. I knew what it would look like. At first it would be confusion, denial, and then it would change to shocking acceptance. Following that would come the look of betrayal and then anger mixed with sadness.

I didn't want to see what I had already experienced. I didn't want to see her go through the stages.

I said it quietly, just above a whisper. Nudge leaned in to hear what I said.

"The demon, it was Sam."

**A/N**

**Me:**** So what did you guys think? I know it's still not much in the ways of action, but I know that I find it much more interesting than the last chapter. I promise that there will be a Max/Fang chapter next, I've got a sketch as to where I want to go with this story on a couple pieces on notebook paper to keep me loosely along the storyline. But the story will probably veer away from some of the stuff I've planned out, because all of my writing is kind of spur of the moment stuff. I have an idea of where I want to go, and then I just write what comes to mind. And now I'm rambling again. Okay, let's go on to those reviews. Thank you, by the way, everyone for your reviews! AND GUESS WHAT!? 106 REVIEWS! I'm like holy crapola right now! EEEEEE! *breathes out* Okay, okay, I'm good now, oh no wait. EEEEEEEEEEEE! This is awesome! *breathes out again* Okay, now I'm good.**

**BFF:**** *looks doubtful* How about I do the review responses? You look like you are going to have a I'm-so-ecstatic-I'm-gonna-pass-out moment.**

**Me:**** Okay! *screams out happily and passes out***

**BFF:**** Wander? *shakes Wander, trying to wake her* Wander? *sighs* Ah, well, whatever. Let's get onto the reviews shall we?**

_**BiteMeBro522**_** that sounds like a really cool idea! But I can't really tell you whether or not you're warmer or cooler in relations of your idea to what's actually going on, since I myself don't know what's going on. Wander's been real secretive about what's going to happen next and what's happening behind the scenes, she really wants to keep up any mystery or suspense she can. **

_**Crazy Insane (Guest)**_** not cool. Just not cool. Me freaking out is not funny. It is absolutely not funny.**

**Me:**** *wakes up and sits up* Actually, it's really funny. *falls with a thud and falls back asleep***

**BFF:**** *scowls* No, its not! **

**Peanut gallery: ****Yes, it is.**

**BFF:**** Run, peanuts before I eat you.**

***peanuts go running off in terror***

**BFF:**** I'm kind of sad that you don't like 1D, Wander probably doesn't care either way. She's a bigger fan of Shinedown, Evanescence, and Flyleaf. I introduced her to 1D, she's not as into it as I am. I would deny that 1D only sings about girls, but when I think about it, they really do only really sing about girls. **

**Well, see you guys next chapter! Please review and tell what you think as well as your guesses! **


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10!

_**Disclaimer:**_** I do not own Maximum Ride**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! Guess what? New chapter! That's twice in one week, I'm on a r—**

**BFF:**** *clamps hand over Wander's mouth* Don't say it! You'll jinx yourself!**

**Me:**** *laughs* Okay, fine, and thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favorite, or even just read the story! Your support means a ton! Love you guys! (Not in the creeper way!)**

**BFF:**** Reviews will be answered at the end of the chapter. **

**Me:**** FOREWARNING: This chapter contains some graphic images that may be disturbing to some readers. **

**I don't think it's too bad, I didn't go into extreme detail, but I thought I should give some warning just in case.**

**BFF:**** Onward to the story! **

Max's POV

It didn't take long for Fang's mom to come pick him up after Iggy's mother had called her about the situation. She came straight from work and looked angry and annoyed at Fang. Then, after giving her apologies to Iggy's mom, she marched Fang back home. I followed the pair, not saying a word to Fang, even though I wanted to. I really hate being an angel sometimes. Not being able to talk to my ward simply because nobody can see me or hear me and would think that Fang was insane if he did talk to me was frustrating as hockey sticks, as Nudge would say. **(If you don't get the expression, look at the last chapter, Nudge uses hockey sticks to replace the word hell.)**

Ms. Walker opened the door and walked inside, Fang and I followed her inside. As soon as the door shut she spun on her heel, facing us.

"Couch. Now. We need to talk." She said simply.

Fang obeyed, walking over to the couch and sitting down. I sat down beside him, not making a dent in the cushion. His mom sat down across from us, plopping onto the couch. She rubbed her hands over her face, letting out a sigh, and then looked up at Fang. She sat back in her seat, dropping her hands into her lap.

"Fang," She said with an exasperated voice. "I don't know what to do with you. I've tried to be gentle, I know you are hurting and I want to help, but you aren't letting me. You won't talk to me. You've been skipping school, not doing your homework, drinking—" Fang looked up at her suddenly, surprise in his eyes. "Don't look at me like that, don't think I haven't noticed. I was a teenager once too, you know." His mother said, Fang's gaze dropped in shame. He had not wanted for his mother to know about his drinking problem.

"I've taken away your car, your laptop, your iPod, your privileges…" She began and stopped with a sigh. "It's pretty clear to me that my methods are not working, so I guess its time to take another direction."

Fang shifted in his seat, waiting silently.

"From now on, I will be taking you to school personally. I'm going to contact the school to make sure that you're there and have them tell me straight away if you are not. I know you might not seem like it now, but your schooling is your future and I will not see you throw it away." She dictated. Fang nodded grudgingly. "You can still hang out with Iggy afterschool, I talked to his mother and I was able to convince her to allow it. I know his company is good for you and he is your best friend, the last thing I want to do is take that away from you. But if I hear of you skipping or not doing your homework, I won't hesitate to take away that privilege." I saw Fang's jaw tighten at hearing this. He did not like his time with his best friend being held hostage by his mother over his participation at school. "And I'm sending you to therapy."

Fang bolted upright, out of his seat.

"No," He said firmly. "I am _not _going to effing therapy."

His mother reached out to take his hand, he backed away from her.

"No." He said.

"Fang, I'm only trying to do what's best for you, dwelling on the past isn't healthy—" His mother spoke calmly.

"_No._" He said, anger seeping into his voice.

"Fang, it wasn't your fault—"

"No! Stop it!"

"Fang, Maya loved you…"

Fang clamped his hands over his ears. His eyes were hidden in the shadow of his black mop of hair. His knees hit the ground. I quickly went to kneel beside him, trying to comfort him.

"She wouldn't want to see you like this. She would want you to move on—"

"NO! Just shut up! Shut up!" Fang screeched. I went to reach out to him, wanting to touch him, to hold him, like I knew he needed to be, but I couldn't, and it was torture.

"Calm, shhhhh, calm down, Fang. Everything is going to be okay—" I spoke into his ear soothingly.

"Everything will not be fine!" He yelled at me. I flinched a little and then froze. He had just spoken to me in front of his mother. _Crap. Crap. Crap._

I turned to read Ms. Walker's expression, she hadn't noticed anything. I breathed a soundless sigh of relief.

"Maya is dead! And it's my fault!" He yelled and then seemed to lose all spirit and fell into whispering sobs. "It's my fault. I killed her. It's my fault."

"Fang…" His mother said softly, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off and flew up the stairs to his bedroom. **(Not literally flying, just running really fast) **

I glanced at his mother, she looked hopeless, and then I sprinted up the stairs, up to where Fang was.

I found his bedroom quickly. It was the only one with a door that was painted black. Kind of obvious as to which one was Fang's don't you think?

I checked the door out of curiosity and found that it was locked. Understandable. Fang had just had a mental breakdown. Who would want to face anybody after that? Not me.

Without another moment's hesitation I phased through the door and entered his room. Like the door, the rest of his room was black as well. Black walls, black furniture, black carpet… As I looked around I noticed a trail of light streaming down across the carpet. I followed it with my eyes and found that it led to the open doorway of a bathroom. I could see, inside it, Fang standing in front of the sink, his back was to me.

I walked up to him and peered inside the small room.

What I saw next horrified me.

Fang was leaning over the sink with a razor blade in his hand. Two thin red lines on his arm were bubbling up and dripping into the sink, quickly. His hand reached over with the blade to make another line. Panic bloomed within me.

"No!" I yelled, racing forward and knocking the razor out of his hand and into the toilet. Fang looked bewildered and embarrassed, but then he reached for the blade. I yelped and quickly flushed the toilet, effectively keeping the blade from Fang. He growled and threw open a drawer, his arm still bleeding, revealing a small stash of razors.

He went to grab another.

"Fang! Please, don't, please." I begged him, feeling tears I hadn't noticed earlier cascade down my face.

I couldn't lose another, not after Zeph. Not like this. Never like this.

_I can't lose Fang._

Fang paused and then closed the drawer, but there was a scowl on his face.

"What are you doing here?" He growled.

I couldn't tear my gaze from his bleeding arm. There were white lines all up and down it. Scars. The sight tore at me. The tears ran freely across my skin.

"I'm your Guardian. I'm supposed to protect you." I whispered.

He scoffed. That just made me feel worse. I'm a terrible Guardian, my last ward was killed because of me and I couldn't even protect my new ward from hurting himself.

But I had to do something. I had to do something to try to fix this.

"Close your eyes." I told him.

"Why?"

"Just do it for me, okay?"

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Don't freak out."

"Now you're starting to scare me."

Quickly I got out hydrogen peroxide and gauze for wrapping his arm, ignoring his comment.

"Put your hand under the faucet."

He did and I turned the knob and let the water wash away some of the blood. I then wiped away the rest with a towel and opened up the hydrogen peroxide bottle.

"This might sting a bit." I warned him. He nodded in response and then I poured the liquid over his wounds. A small, involuntary gasp escaped his lips. I looked up at him and my eyes searched his face, settling on one area in particular. I stared for a moment before realizing it and turning away.

I had been staring at his lips.

_What is wrong with me?_

"Sorry." I said softly in apology, pouring a bit more of the liquid onto his arm. The cuts bubbled and fizzed with a whitish foam that was slightly stained by the blood that was still leaking from his body.

"S'okay." He said through gritted teeth, his eyes scrunched up a bit, still closed.

After a minute or so I had him put his arm under the water again to wash away the burning liquid. Then I took the gauze in hand, and careful to touch him only with the gauze, I wrapped the gauze around his arm, not phasing through him once, not even grazing his skin with my immaterial form. Afterwards I found a piece of strong tape and fastened the gauze wrapping together with its stickiness.

I backed away from him a step. His eyes were still closed.

"You can open your eyes now." I said. He opened his eyes and looked down at his bandage. Then he twisted his arm around, testing it out.

I wanted to hug him so badly. It hurt how much I wanted to hold him, touch him. It was a throbbing pain in my chest, a feeling I had been, for the most part, unfamiliar with, and I didn't like it. The feeling made it hard for me to breathe. It made me feel as if I was drowning.

"Please, don't do that again." I said to him. I couldn't lose another ward. I had failed too much lately. But this was different. Fang was different. Losing him would be worse than just mere failure. Worse than losing Sam. Worse than losing Zeph. Losing him would…losing him…If I lost him, I would lose myself.

I couldn't explain why this was. I didn't know how such a thing had come to pass.

But somehow, I was linked to him, in a way I had never been linked to anyone else before, angel or human.

And it scared me.

Fang didn't reply to me for a long time, his features were stoic, but his eyes were stormy with indecision.

Then he turned and left the bathroom, climbing into his bed and pulling the covers over himself. Not bothering to change into pajamas. It was still midday, so that made sense to me. Although something told me that Fang wouldn't want to leave his room for the rest of the day.

I followed him, and sat in a chair that stood by his bedside. It was black and it swiveled like an office chair, but much fancier and comfier. I settled into it, watching over my ward with a new perspective that had just been shown to me.

Fang was a cutter.

I didn't have to ask why. I knew why.

Maya.

_Poor Fang. To have love ripped from you at such an early age, I can't imagine the pain._ He blamed himself for her death, but I knew it wasn't his fault. The angels would have told me if that was the case, and even if they told me it was, I wouldn't believe them. I couldn't.

I needed to show him that. I needed to show him that it wasn't his fault.

I gazed out the window. The sun shone brightly through the clouds in little streams of cascading light.

"Hey?" I heard Fang say, grabbing my attention, I turned to him.

"Yeah?"

"I feel like an ass for not having asked you earlier, but what's your name?" He asked, his gaze trained on the comforter of his bed.** (I realized a couple of chapters ago that I never had Max tell Fang her name. Whoops. But this way is actually not all that bad, if not better because Fang's newly found knowledge of Max's name now kind of signals a beginning to a solid relationship between the two of them.)**

A little smile tugged at my lips.

"Max." I answered.

Fang sat there for a moment. "Max." He said, testing out the name. "Max." He said again, this time with more confidence. "I like it."

I flushed, and my heart skipped a beat and then started racing. All of a sudden I felt jittery and nervous.

_What the heck is going on with me?_

Fang settled into his bed, getting himself comfortable. I could see the gauze wrapped around his arm. No blood had seeped through. The bleeding had stopped. Thank the heavens.

I looked out the window once more, gazing at the beautiful sky.

"Max?" Fang said, I turned back to him. His voice was soft, his eyes were deep. "Thank you."

**A/N**

**Me:**** So what do you think, folks? Personally, I enjoyed writing this chapter, but I'm hoping to hear what you have to say about it, so **_**please, pretty please,**_** review!**

**BFF:**** Eeeeeeeeee! I can see a bit of Fax over the horizon!**

**Me:**** Yup, but now Fang has more problems than before. I wonder how Max is going to juggle all of this? And then school and therapy? Not to mention a slew of other things. *wicked smile***

**BFF:**** You sadistic little Fanfiction writer!**

**Me:**** That's me. *smirks* **

**BFF:**** Anyways, onto the reviews.**

**Me:**** Shout out to Daniel! I'm not sure who you are, but **_**Sapphira Volkov**_** loves you so you must be a pretty cool dude.**

_**Sapphira**_** you are totally right, I should have made the explosion bigger.**

**Iggy:**** Damn right, you should have made the explosion bigger.**

**Me:**** Shut up, Iggy, I know! He's been nagging at me about it ever since I posted. *sticks tongue out at Iggy***

**Thanks for the gift btw! Sorry I haven't replied yet to it or the one before, I keep forgetting. Sorry!**

_**Guest**_** – You're a Shinedown fan? That is freaking awesomesaucery! Shinedown is my favorite band! Have you seen them in concert? If not, You. Need. To. Go. I went a year or two ago for my birthday. Best. Birthday. Present. EVER!**

**Well, I hope you all have a wonderful night! **

**BFF:**** May you dream of Faxness! PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer:**_** Maximum Ride is not my creation.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews and sorry it took me so long to update! I totally jinxed myself last update.**

**BFF:**** I told you not to say it.**

**Me:**** Sorry! I didn't know last week would be so crazy! Seriously, the teachers gave me a test on Halloween, and two the next day, in all of the hardest subjects, well, at least when it comes to tests, but still! **

**BFF:**** That's just screwy. School sucks. Love learning, but school absolutely and utterly sucks.**

**Me:**** Well, except for lunch.**

**BFF:**** Yeah. *sighs and daydreams* Lunch…**

**Me:**** Yeah, that time where you go and steal everybody else's food before you even eat yours.**

**BFF:**** Hey!**

**Me:**** It's true.**

**BFF:**** *huffs and crosses her arms* Is not!**

**Me:**** *raised eyebrow* Well, let's get on with the story, shall we? I'll answer reviews at the end.**

Max's POV

The day past quickly, Fang never left his room, not even when his mother knocked on his door telling him that dinner was ready. I could tell that he was angry with her. She eventually sighed and went back downstairs to eat her meal alone. I felt a pang of sympathy for her. She was hurting, just like Fang was. Fang was hurting her. Not intentionally, but he was still hurting her. Wounding her and he didn't even know it.

His opposition to therapy was puzzling to me. I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. All you have to do is sit back in a weird looking chair and talk, right?

"Fang?"

"Mhmm?" He replied, staring at the ceiling with his hands tucked behind his head.

"Why do you not want to go to therapy?"

He let out a deep breath and took a moment to respond.

"Maya."

_Wow. Great explanation, Fang. Now I'm even more confused. _I couldn't help but find the one word answer slightly irritating.

"Care to elaborate?"

I saw his jaw tighten slightly.

"A therapist's job is to get you past events, past people. Make you forget so you can move on." He said bitterly. "I don't want to forget about Maya, Max." **(This is Fang's opinion, not mine)**

I watched him for a moment. He continued to stare up at the ceiling. His eyes were unfocused, as if he was remembering something, reminiscing.

"Then tell me about her." I said quietly. Somebody who had meant so much to Fang, had made him as happy as I'd seen him in that picture, that person must have been somebody simply amazing, somebody beautiful inside and out, somebody kind, somebody worth knowing, somebody worth remembering.

"What?" Fang said, sitting up and looking surprised.

"Tell me about Maya." I said a little more loudly. "They say two minds are better than one, so the same must go for memory as well. The more people that know about her, the harder it is to forget her. I can help you remember her. I'll make sure that she's never forgotten."

"Are—are you sure?" Fang asked, he seemed a bit nervous.

"I am."

"I—I don't know where to begin." He looked down at his hands, his hair fell in front of his face.

My hands twitched as I resisted the urge to reach over and try to touch his hair. I wanted to run my fingers through it, but I didn't give into the temptation, knowing all too well the disappointment I would have to endure when my hands phased right through him.

These feelings, these urges to touch him, they were strange. They confused me, so I tried to ignore them. Keyword: _tried._

"How about you start off with how you met?" I offered.

Fang knotted the bed sheets with his hands, twisting them. "Umm, well, we met in first grade. She stole my Legos, so I bit her. After that we became friends."

I gave a small smile. _Humans make friends in the strangest of ways._

"We did everything together. We ate lunch together at school, went roller skating. She was such a klutz on skates." The corner of Fang's mouth twitched into a short smile. "We went hiking together, exchanged books, T-peed Iggy's house, dyed all of Ella's clothes black…" He dropped off for a moment, sadness in his eyes. "Ella hated that…" Fang looked out the window. It was pitch black outside. It was slightly unnerving to me. Especially considering that demons were creatures of darkness.

I gave him a couple minutes to continue, but when he didn't, I decided to get the conversation going again myself.

"What was she like?"

Fang closed his eyes.

"She was a lot like you, she cared about everyone and was always looking to keep them out of trouble, but she was different than you too." He said, laying back and looking at the ceiling.

"How so?"

"Well, first of all, she had a sense of humor." He teased.

"Hey! I have a great sense of humor." I shot back, slightly indignant.

"That's what she said."

"Huh? Wait, what is that supposed to mean?" I asked him, clearly confused.

"My point exactly."

"So, that's what 'that's what she said' means?" **(Remember Max is very naïve, she doesn't get much of human humor)**

"No!" Fang quickly replied, laughing. His laugh…it was just so—just so—intoxicating. I loved it. I mentally shook my head. _What the heck is up with me?_ "It's a sex joke."

"Ew! Gross!" I replied, disgusted, the addictive sound of his laughter forgotten for the moment. _A sex joke? How revolting!_ **(When it comes to sex and stuff, Max has the mental age of an eight year old because as an angel she is pretty sheltered from such things, even though she knows how all that works)**

"I agree, but somehow, it's funny." Fang said, adjusting his pillow slightly.

_How?_ I was confused. _How could something like that be funny? Humans are strange._

"Since you are so adverse to sex jokes, I suggest you avoid Iggy as much as possible, he is the king of pervertedness." Fang advised, a small smirk in the corner of his mouth.

I nodded. I would definitely keep that in mind, but I really wanted to get off this topic.

"So, how else was she different than me?" I asked.

"Well, Maya was reckless, whereas you are more cautious. She wasn't afraid of anything," He paused. "But you are. What are you afraid of, Max?" He ventured. Staring in my direction, it made me uneasy, even though I knew he couldn't see me.

I'm an angel, and angels aren't supposed to fear anything, but I fear many things. Chief among those fears was Fang dead, dead because of me.

I bit my lip. I couldn't voice my fears. That would be the final nail in the coffin. A final testament of just how lousy of an angel I am.

"Max, please, just tell me." He begged, his voice nearly melted my resolve.

_I can't. I can't._ I repeated to myself in her mind. Forcibly keeping myself from caving into him. I found the task extremely hard to accomplish.

His dark eyes were full of care and concern. They were so deep that I nearly lost myself in them. I felt myself starting to cave.

_Why does he have this effect on me?_

"Max?" Fang said worriedly.

And that's all it took. My walls crashed down, and I caved into him.

_I'm so pathetic, I can't even resist him._

"I'm afraid that you are going to die." I whispered, looking away from him and pulling my legs up into my seat, hugging them to me. I imagined my fear taking place in my mind. Fang sprawled out on the ground. Fang's eyes open and sightless. A pool of blood surrounding him. Sam standing over him, laughing.

Silent tears ran down my face, I quickly wiped them away. Not letting Fang see them, not that he could anyway.

"Why are you afraid of that? I don't do drugs or anything like that—well, I drink, but my mom took away my car keys, so I can't go get myself killed in a drunk driving accident. Not that I'd be that stupid but—" Fang rambled, trying to understand why I was afraid of that. He thought I was afraid that he'd get himself killed, and after what happened earlier, I could understand why he would think that, but that wasn't what I was afraid of.

I cut him off mid-ramble. "That's not it. I'm afraid that you're going to die—" I choked a bit on the words. "Because of me."

Fang smiled. He actually smiled. _Stupid boy, you don't even realize how much danger you are in because of me._

"What? Are you plotting my demise or something?" He joked. "Because that's the only way I can see me dying because of you."

I looked up at him, holding my legs tightly against my chest.

"It's my job to protect you, not kill you." I said to him.

"Well that's a relief." He smirked. I ignored it. _He doesn't get it. He doesn't understand how serious this is._

"But because _I_ am protecting you, you're in danger."

"What kind of trouble has the little angel gotten into to make that so?" He teased. I froze at the word 'angel'. _He didn't know, did he? Of course not, he was just teasing me, right?_

I didn't answer and Fang's eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion.

"Max, what is it?" He questioned me, concern laced his voice. "What is making you so afraid?"

I bit my lip, trying to come up with the right way to answer his question.

"Max?" He asked, not a moment later. _He's really impatient._

"Fang, do you remember about the de— _dude_, that I told you about earlier?" I asked him, nervous. For what reason, I wasn't quite sure why.

"The one who wants me dead?" He answered in an inquiring voice before it changed to something a bit more firm and…angry? His fists clenched. "Max, is he scaring you? Is he threatening you? He is, isn't he? That bastard. Tell me where he lives, and I'll make him the frightened one."

"No!" I cried. No way in hell was I going to lead Fang right to the guy who wanted him dead. No. Way. In. Hell.

"Max." Fang said, his voice gentle. I heard movement. Fang was standing up from his bed. "Please, let me help you—"

"No." I said firmly. My face was flush with tears. The image of Fang dead played over and over again in my head. Burning up in a house, just like Zeph did. "I'm not going to let you be my fault too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

_It means I failed. Someone died, and it was my fault._

I stood up from my chair and flung the window open. I couldn't—I couldn't be here right now. I had to get away. Even if it was just for an hour or so. The memories. They were hurting me.

"Max, what the hell are you doing?" Fang stared wide-eyed at the open window. Fear in his voice.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I just—I need to get away for a bit. I promise I'll be back by morning, get some sleep and _don't you dare leave this house._" I told him, before jumping out the window.

"Max!" He yelled, panic in his voice. I landed gracefully and looked up. Fang was in the window, pale as a sheet.

"I'm okay, just stay in the house, please." I called up to him quickly before running away.

"Max!" I heard him call out again, but I didn't stop, I didn't slow down, if anything, I ran faster. His voice pulled painfully at the strings in my heart. The air was cold on my wet cheeks, but I kept on running.

I ran.

And ran.

And ran.

Eventually I stopped. I was in the park. Only a few street lights lit up the place. I climbed into a tree closest to the brightest of the lights. Demons don't like the light. Here would be the safest place for me to rest.

But no where was safe. Not really.

**Me:**** It's a cliffy! Muhahahahahaha! What will happen next? Will Fang venture outside of the protection of the house? Will Sam find him if he does? What about Max? What if Sam comes in the middle of the night and kidnaps her? Perhaps he will find her and she'll get hurt and somebody will come to her rescue? Guess you'll have to wait till the next update to find out!**

**BFF:**** That was just cruel.**

**Me: ****Yeah, I know. Sorry guys, I really can't help it.**

**BFF:**** There better be some Fax-freaking-kissing soon. **

**Me:**** BFF, we went over this, how can they kiss if they can't touch, and Fang can't see her? *evil smile***

**BFF:**** Don't make me hurt you.**

**Me:**** *smiles***

**BFF:**** What demon possessed my friend? **

**Me:**** *SARCASM* I don't know, I think his name was Satan. **

**BFF:**** We are calling the exorcist right now.**

**Me:**** I'm just kidding! *laughs* I could just really use some death threats from my followers right now, they always make me smile. Really guys, they are just charming.**

**BFF:**** *raised eyebrow* I am seriously worried about your mental health child.**

**Me:**** You're in my head, what does that say about you? *sticks tongue out***

**BFF:**** That I'm the only sane part of it at the moment. **

**Me:**** *laughs* Okay, BFF, whatever you say. Onto the reviews. **

_**Guest**_**, that's really sad that you haven't been to a Shinedown concert ;_( You must go to one someday, it truly is amazing.**

_**Everiss K**_**, I'm glad you are liking the story so far, and as for publishing, I'm actually working on a story right now that I'm planning on publishing. Actually I've got it all written out, it just needs some major revisions and to be typed up. I'm going to work on it again after I am done writing this story, so after I am, I probably won't be writing fanfiction for a couple months :/ I'm glad that you think so highly of my writing, it really gives me hope for the book. The book means a lot to me, and I plan on posting its name on my profile when it finally does hit the shelves. I'm hoping that maybe it can help me get into college for creative writing. It's really cool that you are trying to publish a book, a word of advice that I got from an author, there may be publishers that turn you down and say nasty things about your story that aren't true, and I hope they don't, but if they do, don't let the rejection get to you, keep on trying, get that book published, because somebody out there will see how amazing it is, and books change lives. Just look at J.K. Rowling, can you imagine how stupid those publishers who rejected her book must feel right now? And when you do get it published, send me the name of your book, I want to read it! I hoped you liked the bit of Fax in this chapter, I won't deny, I love how Fang is so protective of Max. I don't know whether or not to be proud or concerned that you stopped in the middle of a test to read my story, but I'm glad that you passed! And that's so cool that "Second Chance" by Shinedown came on just as you were reading the part about Shinedown in the last chapter! Okay, now I have been as you said "straining your eyes with my rambling mouth", which by the way, I have no problem with long reviews, in fact I love them, so thank you for your incredibly wonderful, amazing review!**

_**Sapphira Volkov**_**, I write on myself too, apparently it's against the rules at my school because its "improper" or something stupid like that, but I wear a hoodie all the time so I don't get in trouble. Hehehe. But seriously, I'm so forgetful that I used to lose the papers I wrote what my homework assignments were on, I had to write it on something I couldn't forget, and well, I can't really forget my arm. I look forward to your update! Sorry it's taking me so long to read it…**

_**Sydney (Guest)**_**, I hope you liked the chapter, and don't worry there will be many chapters to come, I'm not anywhere close to the end of this story, in fact, I've been tossing around the idea of making it into a fanfic series, what do you think?**

_**DntlessAnnabeth**_**, sorry, I can't tell you yay or nay at this point, there's still the possibility that another angel picked her up, somebody else from Max's past maybe, and I want to keep up the suspense.**

_**No One Important (Guest),**_** I'll tell you soon enough, just be patient.**

_**Guest**_**, this chapter was kind of a start of an integration of Fang into Max's life, so I hope you liked it, I plan for him to slowly get more involved in Max's life as the story unfolds, and vice versa. Yes, I agree, their relationship is gonna be weird, but I'm sure it'll work out *wink wink***

**Okay, now I've written like 2 pages of A/N's, so I better get going so I can go to bed, I've got school tomorrow :/**

**BFF:**** Bye everybody! See you next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR**

**Me:**** I'm sorry it took me so long to update guys, it's been pretty hectic. Basically school is trying to drown me in homework so I've been stressed and running all over creation. Also I just found out that my grandparents' dog is dying so I'm really depressed. This may seem weird to some of you, but that dog is like a sister to me, I picked her out and grew up with her. She is family to me and I love her. I don't want her to go. :_(**

**About the story, I know there are obvious questions that need to be answered, no I can not answer all of them at the moment otherwise I will give away the storyline and that will make this story downright boring now won't it? **

**I do plan to answer the questions about the whole Max/Fang thing, **_**in due time**_**, in fact many of those questions will be answered within in the next few chapters, all I am asking of you guys is to be patient. **

**If the story is confusing you, don't worry, that means I'm doing my job right, you are supposed to be confused right now, or at least that is my aim at the moment. I do plan on clearing up this confusion in the future, but **_**slowly**_**, I am trying to be more realistic than I was with The Runaway Case, as strange as that might be since this is kind of a paranormal story and Runaway was completely human. Answers in the real world don't always come easily, and sometimes it takes a long time to find out the truth. That's why I am revealing things so slowly.**

**If you aren't confused, congratulations!**

**I do encourage you to ask questions about the story. It really does help to know what you guys are wondering about. It helps me to make sure those questions get answered so I'm not leaving any loose ends.**

**Thank you everyone for your continued support of this story**

**FOREWARNING: This chapter may be a bit graphic**

Max's POV

It took me about a half an hour to sort through my jumbled thoughts and regain my composure. Then about five seconds after that, I realized what an idiot I was and flew back to Fang's house at speeds well excessing three times the speed limit of most highways, in other words, I flew like a bat out of hell. _Excuse my French._

When I got to his house, all was still and peaceful. I flew up to Fang's window and peered inside, upon doing so I sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens. Fang was okay.

The lights were off and Fang was sleeping fitfully in his bed. I phased through the window. I hated the feeling of it passing through me as I passed through it. I wished that the window would have some resistance to me. I wished that I could feel and touch the world around me like Fang could. I wished that I could talk to somebody without having to worry about him going to an asylum. I wished that I could be seen. I wished that Fang could see me.

And for the first time in my existence, I envied humanity.

I felt tears of shame build up within me, but I didn't let them spew. I'd cried too much already for one night.

Was it too much to ask for me to be a good angel, one that didn't screw up, one that didn't feel, one that wasn't so messed up?

I blink a couple times and look over at Fang, there's a thin sheet of sweat on his brow and he's tossing about as if trying to wake up. He moans, he can't escape his subconscious. I walk over to him and sit beside him.

What could he be dreaming about that could be so bad?

I closed my eyes and entered his dream.

_I hear a girl laugh. It's distorted at first but then becomes clearer as my surroundings unfold. I'm in the backseat of a car. The radio is turned up really loud to something that sounds like what Zeph's grandfather would play on the record machine when he used to go over there for the holidays. I look forward into the seats in front of me, in the driver's seat is Fang, smiling and singing along to the radio. Beside him in the passenger seat is a girl, she had blonde hair with a pink streak in it and dark brown eyes, Maya. _

_Maya died in a car wreak._

_Now it all clicked, why Fang believed Maya's death had been his fault, why he was thrashing about during what looked like a seemingly pleasant dream. It was because he had been the driver, and now in his dream he was reliving the day she died. _

_The car halted to a stop at a red light. I could feel Fang thrashing about on his bed, trying to escape._

"_Hey, Fang?" Maya asked, a mischievous smile on her face._

"_Yeah, baby?" Fang looked over, smiling._

_Maya leaned over and kissed him passionately, unbuckling her seat belt._

_I couldn't help but feel confused by the mixed reviews my mind and my heart were sending me. One was happy, the other was sad, and I had no idea what to feel._

_Then I saw it, a U-haul truck coming at full speed across the intersection, right towards us._

"_Watch out!" I yelled out to the pair. _

_Fang's eyes snapped open and the truck hit the car._

_The next few minutes were a blur. Sirens. Screaming. People running this way and that. A fire. The U-haul was on fire. It smelled like burning flesh. Smoke was clogging my lungs. I choked and coughed, trying to escape the black cloud. I was still in the car, and so was Fang, but Maya… There was a large hole in the windshield and on the black asphalt about 20 feet away from us in a pool of blood was Maya's bruised form._

_Fang groaned, there was a large gash on his forehead._

"_Maya?" He moaned. "Maya, are you okay?"_

_His head turned and he saw the empty seat beside him and the hole in the windshield. His eyes grew wide and then he caught sight of her, lying on the ground, surrounded by her own blood. He started to scream. It was painful. I continued to cough as more smoke poured into the car from the burning vehicle. _

_I saw flashing lights and paramedics surrounding Maya's unmoving form, they went to work quickly, checking her pulse. Then everybody seemed to stand still. The man looked up to his fellow paramedics and shook his head._

No, please no.

_He stood up and another man covered her body with a white sheet. Fang saw._

"_No!" He screamed, and then a team of firefighters started attacking the door with the Jaws of Life, trying to pry it away while Fang howled, seemingly unaffected by the smoke inhalation that was suffocating me._

_I raised my hand and leaned into the window so I could phase through it. I pushed and—my hand—it didn't go through. I pushed again and again, only to meet up with resistance time and time again._

_This—this wasn't supposed to happen. _

_One of the abilities of an angel in the dream world was to be able to freely move about within the dreams of his or her ward. Getting stuck somewhere inside a dream simply was not possible._

_But here I am. Stuck._

_I heard the Jaws of Life tear off the driver side door. Fang was still screaming and as soon as he was free of the car he ran to Maya's side despite the protests of the paramedics. He shook her and tried to revive her, but nothing he did had any affect. Maya was already dead. _

_I choked some more on the smoke that was filling the car and struggled against the seat belt which held me in place. For some reason, in Fang's dream, I interacted with everything, without even needing the slightest bit of concentration; I didn't have to even acknowledge the interactions to interact. It was strange and exciting, but it was also frightening, especially now. _

_Then the irony of the situation hit me, only minutes prior I had been wishing to be able to touch and feel. Now that I could and I didn't want to._

_I pulled at my seat belt, but no matter what I did, it wouldn't budge. I looked up. The fire had spread to Fang's car, the car that I was currently in. The firefighters were trying to put out the fire, but none of them came to save me. Why would they? None of them could see me._

_I started pounding on the window, hoping somebody would hear and just open the door, get me out of there. _

Please, somebody hear me!

_By then the paramedics had pulled Fang away from Maya. She was on a stretcher in a body bag now, being rolled away. Fang was fighting against the men who held him, trying to get to her. But eventually he broke down and fell to the ground, sobbing._

_The fire had crept into the front seat of the car. I could feel its unrelenting heat. Nothing the firefighters did seemed to quench its thirst. I scooted back from it as far as possible. A flame reached out toward me and I screamed out._

"_Fang!"_

_I don't know why I screamed out his name. I doubted he could help me either, but I was scared, and when a person is frightened, all logic goes out the door. I felt tears build up on my face, I didn't want to die like this. I didn't want to die like Zeph did, not even in a dream. But maybe I deserved this because I failed him… I don't know, I don't know…_

God, please, somebody save me. I don't want this…

_The flames were licking at my legs now. I screamed as pain and heat radiated throughout me. I shrunk back as far as I could. But the fire had tasted me, there was no escape now._

"_Max!" I heard somebody slam against the door and struggle with its handle, trying to pry it open. _

_I looked up through the darkened window. Pain surged through me and I screamed, my legs were on fire now. The fire attached itself to my clothes and ran up my body, trying to engulf me._

_I took in the figure on the other side of the glass. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Olive skin. _

_Fang._

_A tiny flicker of hope bloomed within me._

_He slammed against the door again and pulled at it. Nothing happened. _

_My hair caught fire and the air held an overwhelming smell of burning flesh. My burning flesh._

_This wasn't supposed to happen._

"_Somebody help!" Fang screamed out in fury and panic. _

_But instead of helping, the firefighters and paramedics started pulling him away. _

_My hope died in an instant._

"_No!" Fang yelled, hitting the man who held him in the gut. The man was unfazed. "What are you doing?"_

_Then I breathed in and fire poured into my lungs, burning me both inside and out. Charring and burning my body beyond all recognition. The pain never ceased, consuming me until finally the utter darkness took me._

I come out of the dream world with a jolt. Tumbling off the bed and fall onto the floor, I land on all fours and breathe in heavily. Then I flipped over and laid down on the ground, trying to catch my breath.

_What was that?_

Suddenly there was a yell from the bed and Fang sat up quickly.

"Max!" He called out, his body was wet with precipitation and his sheets were in a piled mess.

"I'm—I'm here, Fang." I reassured him, closing my eyes and resting my head fully on the carpet.

Fang shifts on his mattress and lets out a quiet sigh followed by a few short sporadic breaths that almost sound like laughter, but they could be the sound of grief as well. The sounds confuse me. It's hard to place what they are.

I hear Fang settle back down. His breathing doesn't quite seem to have steadied yet, but I guess that it must be because of the nightmare. I have often reacted the same way after re-experiencing Zeph's death. Losing Maya must have been just as terrible for him if not worse.

After a few minutes of dark silence I speak up, wanting to apologize.

"Fang, I'm sorry about earlier." I whisper.

He doesn't respond. I don't know whether or not he heard me, he probably already fell asleep. I'm told that humans fall asleep much more easily than angels do. I guess that must be true. As for me, I doubt I'll get a wink, especially after that nightmare.

His dream scared me, not because of its content, but because I couldn't get out.

I couldn't get out.

I burned.

And I felt it.

That was the most troublesome thing of all. Nothing was supposed to interact with me physically in a dream unless I allowed it.

I hadn't given the fire permission to burn me, but it did so of its own accord.

There was something strange about Fang's dreams, something special.

Something dangerous.

**Me:**** So what did you think? This wasn't how I was originally going to end it, but I think this ending makes more sense psychologically than what I was planning on doing. Please review and tell me what you think about the chapter.**

**Onto the reviews:**

_**Lacey,**_** sorry to torment you! I hope you liked this chapter! ;) **

_**Chocolatechipcookies13**_**, Fang saw the window open up and Max told Fang that she needed to get away for a bit, that's how he knew she was leaving.**

_**BiteMeBro522**_**, I hope you got over your head cold! Glad you liked the last chap and I hope you like this one too.**

_**Everiss K**_**, that's really cool that you've gotten acceptance letters from publishers, that sucks that they are asking for so much though. I wish you luck on your savings, and I definitely plan on saving up to publish my own story. It's good to know that there are other authors out there too! I hope your move goes well and I understand where you are coming from. No offense to big city lovers, but huge cities drive me nuts, well most of them, I absolutely love Austin, Texas and it's a pretty big city. **

_**Feather flyer,**_** hehehe. Gotcha!**

_**Guest,**_** I didn't want to have to write out that Max concentrated every single time she touched something, that would get repetitive and boring I think. For the most part, interacting with the world around her doesn't take much concentration at all on Max's part. Only in certain situations does it really take any effort. When Max threw open that window, she didn't really have to concentrate on doing it because her emotions were so strong that the simple thought of what she was going to do next, opening the window, was able to give her the level of concentration needed to do so. **

**As for your other questions, they will be answered in due time. I know that Fang seems to have bonded far too quickly to Max, but there is a reason behind that as well. Plus, as for Fang not knowing Max all that well, I'll point out that he didn't know most of those girls he kissed at the party very well either. **

**I'm glad you like the story so far, and sorry if any of that came across as rude. I didn't mean to be if was.**

_**Sapphira Volkov**_**, perhaps, perhaps not ;) I can tell you this, I haven't revealed all of Fang's history yet.**

_**carcinoGalibur (Guest),**_** thanks for the mass review! I'm glad you like you have liked the story so far, and thank you for your suggestions they were really good and I plan to implement them in the future. But please don't pick it up again, you know what I mean, you are a very important person in somebody's life and shouldn't endanger yourself like that. I did get your first review, and good guess but nope, Harry isn't my 1D crush (His last name is Styles btw, I only know that because of Gabby), but I'll give you a hint, his name starts with the letter L.**

**Okay, that's all of the reviews. Sorry guys, no funny A/N's this time, I just can't do one right now. **

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


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